Buying a house in Italy

How to buy a house in Italy

Buying a house in Italy is a process whose proper course, just like in Poland, is supervised by a real estate agency or a company specializing in this type of legal services..

Poles, just like all other European Union citizens, can buy a house in Italy on the same terms as Italians.

2024 is a good time to buy real estate in Italy because prices are still historically low.

However, it must be taken into account that the process of buying a house in Italy differs from that in Poland not only in legal terms, but also in cultural terms. Without knowledge of the Italian language, local customs, market specificity and Italian temperament, it may not be as easy as it seems, even at the initial stage of price negotiations..

Can a Pole buy a house in Italy?

A Pole can buy a house in Italy without any formal obstacles, just like any other Italian. There are no legal obstacles related to this. You do not need to get approval from any authority to buy a house in Italy. You just need to have the Codice Fiscal in place. The next step involves formalities taking into account the specificity of the country, including legal and intercultural differences. Buying a house in Italy is the dream of many Poles.

Buying a house in Italy step by step

The first, most important step you need to take is to find that one and only dream property. Then, after checking all the documents, you must submit a purchase offer. Then the only thing left to do is visit a trusted notary. Buying a house in Italy seems to be quite easy in theory, but not in practice. In practice, you need to have decent know-how, know Italian, know the rule that "we have watches and they have time", or simply have a good lawyer.

How to buy an apartment in Italy?

To put it simply, the steps you need to take to buy a property in sunny Italy are::

Costs of purchasing real estate in Italy

The costs of purchasing property in Italy depend on many factors.

THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE APPROXIMATE COSTS OF PURCHASING PROPERTY IN ITALY IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2024.

Example of purchasing a house for 100,000 euros:

Total average purchase cost, with a final price of EUR 100,000: EUR 116,000

Total average purchase cost, assuming the price is negotiated by 8%: EUR 108,000

Searching and viewing houses in Italy

Searching for houses in Italy is different. Houses must meet specific criteria, and as it turns out, there are quite a lot of them. First of all, you should consider which region to buy a house in Italy. Whether to choose a house or an apartment, and whether it should have a view of the sea, the city or perhaps olive groves. Whether in new construction, ready to move in or for renovation. Whether as a second home for yourself or as an investment for rent. To all this you need to add weather expectations and different architectural styles.

Of course, we also help you find a house in Italy.

After selecting an interesting property, you can start viewing it and two options appear:

We help not only in finding a house in Italy, but also in viewing it remotely.

Houses by the sea for sale

Cheap houses in Italy by the sea occasionally appear among offers on the Internet. You should then pay attention to whether it is a sale of ownership of the premises or the so-called nuda proprieta (so-called bare ownership), i.e. the purchase of real estate with a tenant who has the right to live in the property until his death (so-called annuity contract). These are usually elderly people, often without children, who sell their premises during their lifetime in order to have money and at the same time have the right to live in the property or part of it until their death. Houses located on the coast, close to the beach, are usually not cheap, so you should look for the reason for the extremely low price. Usually it's about boredom proprieta.

Italian real estate websites

However, it may happen that someone finds searching for real estate in Italy incredibly fun. Then the most important question arises: where to look for reliable ads with houses for sale in Italy?

Well, the answer is: primarily on three Italian advertising portals, where 90% of the properties available on the Italian market are listed - i.e. idealista, immobiliare or casa.

We help you search for properties in Italy, check them out and arrange meetings. Without knowledge of Italian, this is extremely difficult.

There is also an alternative option, which is to come to Italy to the town we are in love with, and then go to a local bar and ask local Italians in broken Italian to show you houses for sale in a given town. This method works great because thanks to it you can find gems that you will not find on Italian real estate portals. This method is for those who know exactly in which city in Italy they want to buy a house.

Checking the loads on the premises

Reliable checking of real estate documentation is the key to a successful transaction. However, it is not easy because in Italy there are no electronic land and mortgage registers like in Poland. Moreover, the documentation held by the real estate agency or the seller is often incomplete. This is where we - lawyers come in - so that you know exactly what you are buying and whether you are buying a property with tenants or debts that exceed its value, or whether the property has been illegally built or renovated. The rule is that in Italy, consent from the relevant office is required for any expansion or renovation of the building's exterior. Italians often carry out renovations first and then think about possible consents later, if at all. This means that, especially in southern Italy, only every tenth property is ready for sale. Everything else requires a legalization procedure, which involves additional costs that should generally be covered by the seller. So be careful not to buy a property in Italy for which you will later have to pay for the legalization or you will be forced to demolish it altogether..

Price negotiations

Italians like and know how to bargain. Fortunately, in Italy property prices are haggled down, not up as in some other countries, especially Scandinavia. It is an art to reach a compromise on the price that will satisfy both parties and at the same time not offend the seller. The offended Italian will not sell the property, even if he is offered millions for it. Thanks to many years of experience, we have mastered the art of negotiation and know how to get the property into your hands at a good price.

Notary in Italy

Notaries in Italy have very different practices depending on the region. You have to be careful because quite often in the case of acts involving foreigners, they do everything to minimize their responsibility for the act. For example, they absolve themselves from responsibility for analyzing the documents attached to the act. The form of the purchase and sale deed and any power of attorney granted in Poland is also important, for the form of which Italian notaries are not responsible. Moreover, you need to be careful with the valuations of the deed, because they may vary significantly between notaries. We know perfectly well from experience that notaries in Italy have their tricks and traps! Better watch out for them. For many different reasons, we do not recommend a notary recommended by a real estate agency. It is always better to have an outside professional look at the transaction, rather than one who has already dealt with the transaction.

Entry in the land and mortgage register in Italy

The registration of the notarial deed and entry in the land and mortgage register in Italy is ongoing. The buyer theoretically receives an updated land and mortgage register together with a registered notarial deed within approximately 30 days from the date of the notarial deed. In practice, it varies. Besides, you have to take care of it yourself, because notaries who earn their money by working do not have time to take care of your interests and send you documents. Anyway, this generally applies to cooperation with Italians - you always receive information in batches and possibly when you ask for it, although not always.

Registration tax, cadastral tax and property tax in Italy

The amount of the so-called cadastral tax (the proper name is registration tax) paid on a notarial deed depends, among others, on: on whether you are buying a newly built or second-hand property, on whether you are buying the property as a prima casa (first house where you actually live) or as a seconda casa (second house, the "holiday" one) and on the cadastral value of the property , and in some cases from the actual price agreed by the parties. It ranges from 2 to 9% of the cadastral value of the property, and in the case of first-hand real estate, 4% or 10% of the market price. If you purchase real estate as a prima casa, there are obligations related to registration and possible transfer of tax residence. All this may result in a number of fiscal consequences for the buyer, sometimes good and sometimes bad, depending on his individual situation.

In the case of purchase as a seconda casa, there is also real estate tax payable annually, but in a much lower value (approx. 1% of the cadastral value of the property, depending on the commune). Unlike Poland, each property in Italy has a specific cadastral value, which is usually much lower than its market price. It can be determined based on the coefficients specified in the land and mortgage register of the property and the algorithm of the specific commune where the property is located.

VAT on real estate in Italy

VAT on real estate is paid when the purchase concerns real estate from the primary market, from a developer. Then it amounts to 10% of the purchase price in the case of seconda casa, and 4% of the purchase price in the case of prima casa. Importantly, the advertisements provide net prices. To these should be added the above-mentioned. percentage of VAT. Remember that we are talking about purchase prices, not the cadastral value of real estate, which means that the costs of purchasing real estate from the primary market are in the vast majority of cases higher than those from the secondary market..