How is the purchase and sale of real estate in Italy 2016

Good day our dear readers!

Via XX Settembre 77, Ospedaletti This article is about the basic steps of buying a property in Italy. If you have additional questions, you can always ask us in the Contacts section. So:

The process of buying property in Italy, despite the existing myths and speculation, is a fairly simple and affordable procedure, which is strictly regulated by Italian law . We, as a company that has been operating in the real estate market for a long time, want to lift the veil of misunderstanding about the very process of buying property in Italy. In order to purchase real estate in this country, you will need to:

issue a tax identification code (TIN) or codice fiscale

- TIN which will identify your identity as a person residing in the territory of the Italian Republic or conducting various economic and financial activities here. This code is required not only when purchasing a real estate object, but also when performing any kind of actions that prove your activity in a given country - from purchasing a SIM card for a phone to signing various official contracts and even applying to local social security services. If you have a foreign passport and a valid Schengen visa, you will be able to get a TIN in half an hour at any Italian tax office or at the Italian consulate in your country of residence.

open a bank account for an individual ( conto corrente fisico )

According to the norms of the current Italian legislation, all payments for the acquisition of a property should be made exclusively through one of the credit institutions in Italy. After carrying out the above procedures, you can safely proceed to the purchase of real estate. However, do not forget that the documents for the execution of this purchase and sale transaction will be drawn up in Italian, and therefore, if you do not know it, and the real estate seller and your notary, who helps you buy a property in Italy, do not speak your language, then you certainly need an interpreter to be aware of all the details and nuances of the operation.

In Italy, for more than one hundred years, the process of acquiring real estate takes place in several stages:

Real estate purchase offer (Proposta di acquisto)

1. Proposal for the purchase of real estate (Proposta di acquisto) - signed by the seller and the buyer at the very beginning of cooperation. This proposal should specify all the details of the upcoming transaction, such as a description of the property, its cost, payment terms, and the like. The buyer confirms the seriousness of the purchase intentions by making a deposit, the amount of which can vary from 2 to 5 thousand euros. The deposit is paid to the seller's bank account or by issuing a bank check in his name. In the event that the transaction is terminated for one reason or another, the deposit is returned to the buyer without deducting a penalty or fine. Often, the procedure for buying and selling real estate occurs without the participation of third parties (intermediaries), and therefore this step is skipped.

Property Purchase Agreement ( Compromesso, il Contratto Preliminare Di Vendita )

2. Agreement for the purchase of real estate (Compromesso) is a legal agreement that is signed by both parties to the transaction after all its nuances have been agreed. This agreement clearly establishes specific details - the exact price of real estate, the date of signing the contract, payment terms and other data. In addition, at the time of signing this agreement, the buyer must pay an initial fee - 20-30% of the cost of the purchased object, after which both parties are required to conclude a deal. However, if the buyer refuses the transaction for any reason, this amount will not be returned to him. If the transaction cannot be carried out due to the fault of the seller, he will have to pay the buyer an amount equal to twice the size of the initial payment. Also, at the first stages of the agreement, commissions are paid to the intermediary, and they are collected from both the seller and the buyers, unlike the Russian Federation, where commissions are paid only by those who turn to this intermediary for help in acquiring real estate. If one of the parties to the transaction does not speak Italian, then a professional translator must be present at the signing of this agreement with a notary, otherwise the agreement will be declared legally invalid.

Final sales contract, notarial deed (Atto notarile)

3. Final sales contract (Atto notarile) - will be signed exclusively at the notary's office. First, your notary must check the legal correctness of the transaction, payment of all necessary fees and tax calculations, and subsequently certifies with his signature the fact of the transaction. After all the above actions, the notarial deed must be registered with the Real Estate Registration Bureau, where it is given an individual register number. In some Italian provinces, ownership of the property passes to the owner immediately after signing the contract of sale.

The process of signing a notary deed when buying a property in Italy

For those who decide to buy property in Liguria or in another area of Italy, when signing the notarial deed, the following ceremony of actions awaits, your notary reads the deed aloud in order to make sure that all points are understood correctly by all both parties to the transaction. If the property is bought by a person who does not speak the language, one of the following options may be chosen to solve the problem:

- the act of purchase can be drawn up in several languages, and when it is signed, there must be an interpreter and one more person - a witness who speaks the language of the buyer. A written translation of the act, certified by a notary in the presence of witnesses and a translator, is done in advance and is attached to the original contract in Italian. Then the notary enters the text in the translated text of the buyer to the text of the seller. Then, in order of priority, everyone who is included directly in the act signs, namely:

• The seller and the spouse of the seller, as according to Italian law, the spouse must be present at the sale if there is a marriage certificate.
• The buyer and the spouse of the buyer, if they want to take advantage of the tax relief of 2% of the cadastral value, to obtain a residence within 18 months. If the buyer does not receive the residence, he will pay 9% of the cadastral value.
• Seller's Witness
• Witness from the side of the buyer who speaks Italian
• An interpreter accredited by a local court and who is entitled to this type of activity
• The notary puts his signature last

This is just the smallest list of who can sign a notarial deed. If there is a mortgage, a representative from the bank must appear and pay off all obligations before buying real estate and so on.

It is also worth noting that the services of an interpreter, as well as a witness, notary services and taxes are paid by the one who uses them, that is, the buyer.

- it is also practiced to make a special power of attorney for a trustee who speaks Italian and can represent your interests when signing a notarial deed on behalf of the buyer. The presence of the buyer himself at the signing of the notarial deed is not a prerequisite. The power of attorney is issued by an Italian notary, also with the presence of a competent translator. If the power of attorney is drawn up in the country of the buyer, it must necessarily have an apostille, after which it can be translated into Italian already in Italy.

The Russian real estate agency in San Remo offers Russian-speaking buyers the services of buying and selling real estate. We will help you not only to find suitable housing, but also to complete the transaction without any kind of documentary delays and language problems. The most important thing in our work is the control of all pre-sale documentation.