How to buy property in Italy while living abroad

The answer, straight away

A foreign national can buy in Italy, and the procedure is ordinary. What complicates matters is not the rules: it is the tax code, the bank account, the distance, and the fact that completion happens before an Italian notary.

All four are solvable, and they are solved before finding the property rather than after.

The steps, in order

Tax code. Obtained in Italy or through a consulate. Needed for almost everything, including opening an account.

An Italian bank account. Not always compulsory, almost always practical: traceable payments at completion, and utilities afterwards.

The offer and the preliminary contract. An accepted offer already binds. The preliminary sets terms and timing and usually involves a deposit.

The checks. Title, planning and building compliance, land registry, constraints, mortgages. On a historic property this is the long part.

Completion. Before the notary, who in Italy is a public official verifying by law, not an adviser acting for one side.

What catches people from other systems

That the notary represents neither party. People arriving from systems where each side has its own lawyer often do not know this, and believe they are covered when in fact nobody is acting for them.

That an accepted offer already binds. It is not an expression of interest.

That timings are longer. Two or three months between offer and completion is common, and more on complex properties.

Who you need around you

An agent who works in your language. A tax adviser, before rather than after, because your position changes what is worth doing. A surveyor for the checks. A sworn translator if you do not speak Italian, because at completion you need to understand what you are signing.

What can be done remotely and what cannot

Almost everything remotely. Completion requires attendance, or a power of attorney, which has to be prepared properly and in good time.

Viewings can be done by video, and at certain figures that is normal: what cannot be delegated is the decision, and anybody telling you to buy unseen is doing you a disservice.

The most common mistake

Falling in love with a property and only then discovering the tax position, the annual running costs and the constraints.

The right order is the opposite: first understand what owning in Italy involves, then look.