If you are reading this, you are probably in search for hints on how to safely buy a house in Italy.
I want to start this article, containing suggestions on the procedure needed to safely buy a house in Italy, with a real case that happened to those who would later become our Irish customers, who told us about when they bought a farmhouse with a spring of water within their private property in Tuscany .
After signing the purchase contract with the old owner, in front of a notary, in the following days their neighbor knocked at their door, waving an old agreement recorded by another notary. The act boasted the right to enter their private property (which the Irish gentlemen had just purchased) to take water from the spring.
You know very well that, in Italy, lawsuits are resolved on average in no less than 4/5 years!
So what should be done not to fall into such traps if you plan to safely buy a property in Italy?
Let me show you what I would do make sure that the house I am buying is fully compliant:
First of all, I would not just collect the information that the owner of the house gives me, or that I receive through his real estate agent.
Who tells me if this professional, (chosen by the seller and not by you), may have an interest in hiding anomalies in order not to blow up the negotiation, in favor of the person who commissioned him, i.e. the seller?
Chose professionals “on your side”:
I would certainly hire professionals, whom I pay, and precisely for this reason that they do my best, motivated to detect any anomalies and not related in any way to the seller. I want to sleep soundly!
The best thing, therefore, once identified the property that interests you, is to verify with the help of your professionals, who play in YOUR “same team”, that everything is truly in place.
It was not my intention to frighten you, but if it happened you have to know that it is not all so terrible and unsolvable.
You want to safely buy a house in Italy and this has to be just a positive experience! Right?
Meanwhile, to avoid the hypothesis that there are technical problems of various kinds on the house you are interested in, I recommend that you hire a surveyor or an architect to prepare a Technical Report of Urban Compliance (Relazione Tecnica di Conformità Urbanistica)
…but what is the technical report of urban compliance and who releases it?
Often, in order to know the “history” of a house (how it was built, with what permits, what transformations it has undergone over the years, and if the property is subject to constraints), it is necessary to carry out accurate investigations at the appropriate offices, and to collect entire files of documents.
It is not easy for architects, surveyors, and engineers, let alone for the owner of the house or the buyer.
The Technical Report of Urban Compliance is a sort of dossier that contains all this technical information and is produced by a surveyor, architect or engineer upon conferral of a specific assignment.
This document, which has to be easily understandable by anyone, contains in a very detailed way all the references to the acts with which the seller became the owner of that property. It contains the chronology of the building permits with the protocol numbers, the date of issue by the municipality of competence, and any active or passive easements present on the property.
All this allows the seller to certify the saleability of the property, and the future buyer to avoid situations that could blow up the deal.
Most of the time it is thought that it is sufficient to provide to the real estate agent (or directly to the potential buyer) a copy of the deed and a copy of the cadastral plans, but this is incorrect!
In the meantime, let’s clarify an important aspect.
In Italy, two distinct entities release and hold the documentation of a property:
- LAND REGISTRY
- TECHNICAL OFFICE OF THE MUNICIPALITY WHERE THE PROPERTY IS LOCATED
The first was set up to “tax” the real estate.
The second, which prevails between the two, has the function of issuing permits to build, renovate and modify a property.
Few people are aware of the fact that between the two bodies prevails the Technical Office of the municipality of competence, and not the Land Registry, as the latter is not conclusive.
What does this mean?
Verifying if the cadastral plan of one’s own house corresponds to the physical state of the property does not protect against any anomalies that may be hidden.
The main verification to be carried out is to go to the Technical Office of the municipality of jurisdiction and, through the completion of a specific form, request access to the records.
Access to the documents is allowed only to the owner of the property or to a third person as long as it has been formally delegated by the owner himself.
The timescales for accessing the documents of the property varies from municipality to municipality.
In some municipalities, it takes months to consult and receive copies of all the papers of a property. For this reason, it is necessary to move in advance.
Because of this, what I recommend is to include in the purchase proposal for the house you like, a condition that protects you and allows you to buy house safely.
When you have access to the file, you can withdraw a copy of all the building permits of the property you are examining. Each building permit has attached a scaled graphic representation board (blueprint) in which it is possible to understand the nature of the work carried out on that property.
The most recent building procedure in the file, generally always attached to a graphic representation of the building, must correspond to the actual state of the building.
Check the cadastral plan:
- If the cadastral plan is in accordance with the real condition of the property but the project is not, then it is necessary to request, through a surveyor or an architect, a new building permit to ensure that there is a correspondence between the property and the plans.
In this case, once the municipality has issued the new permit, the surveyor or architect in charge can also communicate the variation in the Land Registry and modify the land plan. - If, on the other hand, the cadastral planimetry differs from the real condition, but the project deposited conforms, we are faced with a situation where it is sufficient to send a simple communication of variation to the Land Registry and, at that point, it is possible to modify the cadastral planimetry with a few hundred euros.
-Safely Buy a House in Italy
What are the responsibilities of the seller and the risks of the buyer?
It is the owner of the property who declares and certifies, through his specialist, the saleability of the property to the buyer, and is always the owner to be considered most responsible civil and penal liability.
It is also important not to underestimate this aspect because in Italy, the notary is not obliged to verify if the Technical Report of Urban Compliance is correct.
The event of a dispute with the future buyer about the emergence of some anomaly, not reported and detected by the technician who drew up the Technical Report of Urban Compliance, may lead the same seller to rely on the same technician who did not perform his job well in the first place.
My intention is not to scare you, but remember you are buying the most important asset of your life.
What is the cost of a Technical Report of Urban Compliance?
It depends on the type of building and the complexity of the investigation.
For small apartments or properties, you can go around 500 euros.
For large or prestigious properties, this sum can easily double.
Who has to draw up or pay for the Report?
Those who want to make sure they don’t run into nasty surprises have to pay for it. It is equivalent to a sort of “insurance” that protects your interests.
In order to safely buy a house in Italy, I would not doubt that I would do my best to be assisted by a technician of my choice, to make sure that everything is in place.
Probably, if I were a buyer, even if I were given a Technical Report by the other party, I would scrupulously hire a trusted technician of mine to verify that what the professional (chosen by the seller) has certified is true and correct.
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