Buying an apartment or house in Italy doesn’t start with signing at the notary’s office. An important part of the process begins already when you find a property you like and the real estate agency prepares a Proposta d’Acquisto for you.
Even before signing and paying a deposit, it’s worth knowing who owns the property, what is registered in the land registry, whether the floor plan matches reality, and what building documentation exists for the property.
So when buying property in Italy, knowing the price from the listing isn’t enough. Documentation is just as important as the property itself.
What does a Slovak or Czech buyer need?
A Slovak or Czech buyer primarily needs a valid proof of identity and a Codice Fiscale, the Italian tax identification number.
For married couples, marital status and property regime also come into play. The notary needs to know who is acquiring the property and under what regime.
Even at this stage, the documentation may differ depending on the buyer’s specific situation.
What is the Codice Fiscale?
The Codice Fiscale is the Italian tax identification number.
A foreign buyer needs it, for example, during the notarial process, document registration, and later for various administrative tasks after the purchase.
What documents should you have for the property?
When buying a house or apartment in Italy, you’ll gradually come across several documents. Each of them tells you something different about the property, and only comparing them together gives you a real picture of what you’re actually buying.
The Atto di Provenienza shows how the current owner acquired the property. The Visura Catastale contains the basic land registry data, and the Planimetria Catastale shows the floor plan on record.
You may also come across the APE, the energy certificate, and depending on the age and type of property, documentation relating to Agibilità, building permits, or later modifications to the property.
With an older house, the documentation can naturally be more extensive than with a newer apartment. Over the decades, the property may have gone through renovations, layout changes, or extensions, and it’s exactly these changes that need to be tracked down in the documents and correctly assessed.
Simply receiving a few PDF files from the real estate agency and assuming everything is fine is not enough. What matters is whether the information in the individual documents is consistent with each other, whether it matches what you see during the viewing, and whether anything emerges that needs to be resolved before the purchase.
This is exactly the difference between simply having the documents and having them professionally reviewed in the context of the specific property.
What you see may not match the floor plan.
Imagine an apartment presented in the listing as an apartment with a cellar and a garage. At first glance, nothing unusual. But when we check the land registry documents, we find that only the apartment and a storage room are registered.
A similar situation can arise with the layout itself. During the viewing, you’re drawn to a lovely enclosed veranda, but it isn’t shown at all on the cadastral floor plan.
Does this mean the property can’t be bought? Not necessarily.
However, you need to find out why the discrepancy arose, whether there is documentation for it, and whether the situation needs to be resolved before the purchase.
That’s exactly why it’s not enough to have just one extract or floor plan. It’s important to compare the documents with each other, compare them with the actual condition, and be able to assess what any discrepancy means for the buyer.
History is especially important for older Italian houses.
Italy is full of beautiful older properties. But it’s precisely with these that the layout may have changed over the decades, rooms may have been added, terraces enclosed, or renovations carried out.
That’s why checking the land registry alone isn’t enough.
Depending on the specific property, it may be necessary to compare the land registry data with the building and planning documentation held by the Comune.
For example, a house may actually measure around 120 m² today, while the original building documentation records only 95 m². That’s a difference of 25 m².
That doesn’t automatically mean there’s a problem. Those 25 m² could have come from a legal extension or a later renovation. The purpose of a professional check is to find out where the difference comes from, whether there is corresponding documentation, and whether the current condition is properly documented.
Every property needs a different kind of check
There’s simply no universal checklist that covers every purchase in Italy.
Different checks apply to:
an apartment in a condominium,
an older family house,
a rural property with land,
or a new build from a developer.
That’s why at Sole Consulting we don’t just look at whether the client received the document, but also at what it actually means for the specific purchase and whether further documents or explanations need to be requested.
Buying property in Italy?
Documentation is one of the most important parts of a safe purchase.
At Sole Consulting, we help Slovak and Czech clients review property documentation, communicate with the real estate agency, technicians, and the notary, and flag issues that need to be resolved before continuing with the purchase.
Have you already found a specific house or apartment?
👉 It’s a good idea to have the documentation checked before you take the next binding step. Write to us and buy with confidence.
