Buying
There are three steps in the process of buying a property in Italy:
- the offer
- the preliminary contract
- the Deed of Sale
The offer may be a verbal one but best practice requires it to be written. Cluttons provides a standard format for this. Once the offer is accepted and the buyer notified of its acceptance, in strictly legal terms a contract already exists.
The Preliminary Contract is a template for the Deed of Sale and contains the same key elements: i.e. the identities of the buyer and the seller, a detailed definition of the property be it a farmhouse, a villa, an apartment in a centro storico, a palazzo or an hotel, with Land Registry references, the price agreed, the terms of payment, any special conditions and a time limit for completion. Cluttons prepares this contract for you, in Italian and English, with the aid of our legal consultant. A down payment is made at this point – if the buyer subsequently withdraws from the contract without due cause, he forfeits his deposit and if the seller withdraws he is obliged to pay back double the amount of the down payment. If you intend to take independent legal advice, you must do so before signing the preliminary contract.
The Deed of Sale must be signed before a public notary who is an impartial public official with a duty to the state to collect the taxes due on the transaction and to register the new Deed at the property registry. Cluttons, as property consultants, sits beside you in the notary’s office and offer a full interpreting service.
Taxes and costs related to buying property in Italy
The costs incurred by a buyer in addition to the agreed purchase price are:
- registration tax and cadastral tax
- the notary’s fee
- the agent’s commission
The exact amount of tax payable when you buy a property in Italy is calculated by the Public Notary and varies according to the type of property, whether the seller is a private individual or a company, and whether the buyer is tax-resident in Italy or not. By law the estate agent in Italy is entitled to receive commission from both parties. In very broad terms, buyers should allow 8 to 10% on top of the agreed price to cover all these costs.