Property finding service

Buying property in Italy

Make a sales enquiry

Buying property in Italy

The process of buying a property through Isola Rossa is summarised below:

1. Please complete our property sales enquiry form providing as much detail as possible on your requirements, and most importantly, your budget.

2. If you are interested in any of our properties we would be delighted to arrange a viewing. Alternatively, should you not see what you are after we do offer a property finding service covering coastal Tuscany, mainly focused on the Monte Argentario close to Porto Ercole and Porto Santo Stefano.

3. Should you wish to go ahead and buy a property, Isola Rossa can help by introducing you to the following key people:

1. A public notary who act as witnesses to and registrars of property transactions. Only deeds of sale (rogitos) witnessed and authorised by a notary can be registered at the land registry (catasto). The notary also has the responsibility to make sure the appropriate property taxes are paid on completion of the sale.

2. A geometra who carries out legal searches on your behalf. The geometra’s role is the fusion of a surveyor and those of an architect.

3. A commercialista – an English speaking lawyer who can provide independent legal advice.

4. On completion, you will have to provide a codice fiscale (Italian tax code) and details of an Italian bank account.

Making an offer

Once you have found an Italian property you are interested in buying, the next step is usually to make a written offer (Proposta), which sets out the price and terms of your offer. It is normal practice at this stage to pay a deposit of 2-5% of the asking price. This money is paid as an “acconto”, meaning it will be deduted from the purchase price and returned to you if the sale does not go through.

Preliminary contract

Once your finances are in place and all the searches have been satisfactorily completed, both parties normally sign a preliminary contract (Compromesso), which is a legally binding contract, which commits both parties to the transfer of ownership on the terms and conditions set out. On conclusion of the compromesso, the buyer will need to pay a deposit (Caparra) of 10-20% of the purchase price.

Completion

Once the notary’s checks have been successfully completed, buyer and seller meet to sign the final contract at a pre-agreed time. Whilst the compromesso forms a private contract between buyer and seller, for ownership to be transferred from the vendor to purchaser, the deal must be made public. This is done by the completion of a final purchase contract (Rogito).

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