Buying Process
Once you have found the property you wish to purchase you should make an official offer (Purchase Proposal)
Usually this offer is valid for 10 days and involves the payment of a small deposit to the Estate Agent or Vendor. If the offer is accepted then both parties are informed that the transaction has become official and the small deposit then becomes your official deposit (caparra confirmatorio). Once the offer has been accepted by the seller then you can proceed to the preparation and signing of the Preliminary Contract (Compromesso).
The Preliminary contract is the most important Deed in the purchasing process as both parties are binding each other to complete the purchase. At this stage you will have to pay a larger down payment (of 30% of the sale price), at this point if either parties after the signing of the preliminary agreement withdraw from the sale then there are penalities to pay, if the vendor withdraws he must pay the purchaser double the deposit (caparra confirmatorio) and must refund any deposits paid if the Purchaser withdraws he forfeits all monies paid up to the date of the withdrawal.
This contract contains some important clauses; here we have listed some of them:
- Sale price indicating the amounts paid at signature and all the payments to be made up to the final sale.
- Name of the seller and buyer, place, date of birth and nationality, tax identification number (Codice fiscale).
- Identification of the location of the property you’re buying.
- Full description of the property as stated from the Land registry.
- Verification of the Seller title
- A date of the signing of the Deed of sale (Rogito).
- Building licenses.
- Identification of all servitudes that might affect the property (roads, water pipelines, etc) and those from which the property should benefit (right of way, access, etc)
- Map of the building or land (both parties are required to sign it).
- On off plan developments a copy of the bank guarantees.
You might make the completion of the purchase contingent upon your mortgage application being accepted, or you could make your purchase contingent on planning permission being granted for a swimming pool; or make your purchase contingent upon a successful survey on the building, and so on. The final stage in buying a property is the completion of the Title Deed (Rogito).
This contract must be signed and finalised in the presence of the Public Notary (Notaio): the notary is an executive ( independent and impartial!) officer who performs the vital task of registering the sale at the Land Registry Office (Conservatoria dei Registri Immobiliari) which transfers the ownership to the buyer.
The Notary also makes sure that the sale is carried out correctly by doing local searches, checking planning permission, investigating in relation to the vendor’s title, checking that no mortgage or charge exists over the property etc...
At this stage the purchaser pays the Notary the remaining monies for purchasing the property, the notary fee*(fees range from 2.5%to 3% ) the registration and purchasing taxes (see below). For completion the buyer will need to have a tax code (Codice Fiscale), a bank account and must provide a copy of a valid passport.
Agency fees
Dreamhomes charge a service fee of 3% (plus VAT) on the agreed purchase price upon exchange of preliminary contracts.
| Company |
VAT |
|
10% second home
4% first home |
(20% if luxury) |
| Stamp Duty |
168 € |
| Mortgage Tax |
168 € |
| Land Registry Tax |
168 € |
| Private |
10% second home
3% first home |
| Stamp Duty |
7% |
| Mortgage Tax |
2% |
| Land Registry Tax |
1% |
N.B.
Under the new laws it is necessary to register all preliminary contracts / purchase proposals, this must be done enter 20 days from the signing of each contract. If in the eventuality of a late registration a fine will be applied.
The registration fees are the following:
- € 168.00 Fixed registration fee
- € 3.72 for each registered copy (minimum 2 copies )
- € 14.62 government stamp (1 every 4 pages on both copies )
- € 1.00 government stamp (for plans)
- 0.50% tax due on the confirmed deposit (caparra confirmatorio)
- 3% tax due on any down payments made thereafter for purchases not subject to VAT