Buying property in Italy as a foreigner: the complete process

I get the same message every week. Somebody has found a house online, the agent is pushing them to sign "just a small piece of paper to show you are serious", and they want to know what it means. Usually that small piece of paper is the thing that commits them.

So here is the sequence, in the order it really happens.

Before you do anything: the codice fiscale

The codice fiscale is your Italian tax number. You cannot buy a property, open a bank account, sign a utility contract or register a deed without it.

It is free. You can get it from an Italian consulate in your own country, or at any office of the Agenzia delle Entrate in Italy. Apply for it early — every step that follows needs it, and people routinely discover this at the worst moment.

Step one: the proposta d'acquisto

The proposta d'acquisto is a written offer. In Italy this is not the informal thing it is in some countries.

When you sign it, you are bound. The seller is not, until they accept — but the moment they do, a contract exists between you. It normally comes with a cheque attached as a deposit, which the agent holds and which is cashed on acceptance.

Two things to watch:

• Its validity period. Your offer stays open for the period you write on it. During that time you cannot withdraw.
• Conditions. If your purchase depends on getting a mortgage, on the property being urbanistically compliant, or on any document being produced, that condition has to be written into the offer. Once it is accepted, adding conditions means renegotiating from a weaker position.

This is the point at which most foreign buyers commit to something they have not checked. If you take one thing from this guide, take that.

Step two: the compromesso

The compromesso, or contratto preliminare, is the preliminary contract. It sets the price, the deadline for the deed, what is included, and what happens if either side pulls out.

The deposit paid at this stage is usually a caparra confirmatoria. The consequence matters: if you walk away, you lose it. If the seller walks away, they owe you double. There is no minimum set by law. In practice it settles between 5% and 20% of the price, with 10% by far the most common. The figure is agreed between the parties, either in the proposta or in the preliminary contract itself.

The compromesso must be registered with the Agenzia delle Entrate, which carries its own duties: a fixed registration tax of 200 euro, 0.50% on the caparra confirmatoria, and stamp duty of 16 euro for every four sides of paper. You can also have it transcribed in the property registers, which protects you if the seller tries to sell to somebody else or is pursued by creditors before the deed. That costs more, and for a purchase where the deed is months away it is usually worth it.

Step three: the rogito

The rogito is the deed of sale, signed in front of a notary.

The notary is not the seller's lawyer or yours. They are a public official, and in Italy the buyer chooses and pays them. Choose your own — do not simply accept the one the agency suggests. It costs the same and the relationship is different.

If you do not speak Italian well enough to follow the deed, the law requires an interpreter, and often two witnesses. Arrange this in advance; it is not something to discover on the day.

What the notary checks, and what they do not

This is the most common and most expensive misunderstanding I meet.

The notary does verify:

• who legally owns the property and whether they can sell it
• mortgages, liens, seizures and other charges registered against it
• that the cadastral data matches the registers
• that the seller has declared the building compliance references

The notary generally does not:

• go and look at the property
• check that the building as it stands matches the approved plans
• verify that an extension, a converted attic or an enclosed terrace was ever authorised
• confirm the heating, gas and electrical systems are compliant
• tell you whether the price is sensible

That gap is exactly where the problems live. A deed can be perfectly valid and you can still have bought a house with an unauthorised floor on it. See what to check before buying a rustico or country house for how those defects show up in practice.

How long it really takes

From accepted offer to deed, expect months rather than weeks. The variable is almost never the lawyers — it is the offices.

Getting a full set of building records out of a Comune takes as long as it takes, and in small municipalities the office may be open a couple of mornings a week. An access-to-records request has legal deadlines, but those are the deadlines for a decision, not a promise of speed.

Plan on:

• a few days for the codice fiscale, longer through a consulate
• days to weeks between offer and compromesso
• weeks to months between compromesso and rogito, driven by document retrieval and any mortgage

The order that protects you

The sequence that keeps you safe is not the one you will be pushed into:

1. See the property, or have somebody see it properly for you.
2. Get the paperwork before you make an offer, or make the offer conditional on it.
3. Only then sign the proposta.
4. Register the compromesso and consider transcribing it.
5. Choose your own notary.

The pressure will always be to compress steps two and three. That pressure exists because the agent is paid when you buy, and is not paid when you check.

For what all this costs, see costs and taxes when buying a house in Italy. For an honest look at the risks, see is it safe to buy property in Italy.