The preliminary contract (Compromesso) is a private agreement stating the full price of the house and the conditions that need to be met before the sale. Since January 2007, all registered Italian real estate agents are obliged to register all the preliminary contracts. This is paid for by you the buyer and will cost 168 euros which is the fixed registration fee, plus 2 bolli or stamps (these are currently 14,62 euros each) and 0.5% of the deposit. In the case that your deposit is 24,000 euros, for example, there will be a registration fee of 120 euros. At this point the buyer is usually required to pay about 30% of the total sale price.
This seems a lot but it ensures that no-one can be gazumped and it protects both the buyer and the seller against defaulting on the contract. If you default you lose your deposit, if the seller defauts they are required to pay you back twice the value of your deposit. As this is a private agreement we can sign this on your behalf if you wish.
Before the Geometra can go ahead and write this contract they need to research the origin of the house i.e. who the sellers bought from, they will check if there are any liens or mortgages on the property, they will check for easements and who are the neighbours with common borders. At this stage, you can also make known any conditions that you wish to place on the purchase. For example, it may be important to you to have permission for a pool. You can have this written into the Preliminary Contract and, if permission is not subsequently received, you are able to withdraw from the purchase with a full refund.
Books on the subject of buying property in Italy always talk about the ‘coltivatori diritti’; this is a law whereby a registered farmer can purchase a piece of rural property for the declared (lower) tax honest price. This whole problem is avoided by getting any neighbouring farmers to sign a letter whereby they decline this right of purchase and will not pursue it in the future, thus protecting our buyers.
Once the preliminary contract is signed we regard the purchase as a done-deal and put the property into pending status. At this point you need only pay our commission which, if you decide to go for the standard legal package is 3% plus local VAT (called IVA). The Geometra and taxes are paid at final contract.