Countries · Italy
What to check in Italy before you sign.
You cannot assume a building was put up legally and entered correctly in the land registry. Yet that is exactly what decides whether the contract holds and whether a bank will lend against it.
What costs the most money in Italy
For every 100 authorised homes there were 15.1 unauthorised builds nationwide in 2022. In the south it is 40.2, in Basilicata 54.1 and in Campania 50.4. In the north the figure is below 5.
Purchase costs
2 to 9%
of the purchase price, on top of the price in the listing.
- Registration tax, first home2 %
- Registration tax, second property9 %
- Registration tax, minimum amount1.000 €
- Mortgage and cadastral tax€50 each, fixed
- Purchase from a developer, first home4% VAT
Source: Agenzia delle Entrate, guidance of October 2025. Anyone who expressly asks for it at the notary is taxed on the cadastral value instead of the purchase price and saves a further 30 percent of the notary's fee. It cannot be made up for later.
The trap for tenants
Where the landlord has opted for the flat-rate rental tax, the rent may not be raised for the whole term, even if the contract carries an adjustment clause. Many tenants pay the annual index increase all the same. Anyone who has overpaid can claim it back, but only within six months of returning the flat.
Source: Agenzia delle Entrate und Gesetz 431/1998, Artikel 13
Energy and the duty to renovate
A missing energy certificate at sale costs between €3,000 and €18,000. For a tenancy agreement it is €300 to €1,800, and leaving the energy figures out of the listing costs €500 to €3,000.
Source: Gesetzesdekret 192/2005, Artikel 15
Certificate validity: 10 years
What to watch for in Italy in particular
Every purchase contract for an existing building must carry, on pain of nullity, the cadastral data, the reference to the filed plan and the declaration that the actual state matches it. Second: if part of the purchase price is concealed, the protection of the cadastral value falls away and a penalty surcharge of 50 to 100 percent lands on the tax difference. That hits the buyer, because the tax is owed by them.
Source: Gesetz 52/1985, Artikel 29, und Agenzia delle Entrate, 2025
Official maps in Italy
5 map layers lie directly over your property.
Not as an average for the district, but at your exact address, with a legend and a visible source. Every layer can be switched on separately.
Check it yourself
The official bodies in Italy.
Scan my Home checks against these sources. You can call up every one of them yourself, and that is exactly the point: a figure you cannot verify is not a figure, it is a claim.
Ownership & charges
Agenzia delle Entrate (Catasto & Conservatoria)
Cadastre, ownership, mortgages, formalità
Energy
APE / Regionales Energieregister
Attestato di Prestazione Energetica
Environment & natural hazards
ISPRA / Piano Assetto Idrogeologico
Flood and landslide risk
Building & zoning
Comune / Piano Regolatore
Zoning, building permit, building amnesty
The market in Italy
766,757 residential transactions in 2025, up 6.4 percent, with a turnover of around €124 billion. In the south the average price per home is below €116,000, in the centre around €188,000.
Source: Agenzia delle Entrate, Immobilienbericht vom 21.05.2026
A real dossier from this country
See what the analysis found on an actual listing in Italy — every figure with its source.
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