Can I refer a property without being an estate agent?
Yes, but the distinction matters. In Italy agency work is reserved to those registered with the chamber of commerce — that is law 39 of 3 February 1989 — and anyone not registered has no right to an agency commission even where the deal completes. What an unregistered professional can do is refer: put their client in touch with an agent, without conducting the negotiation, taking offers or presenting themselves as the person selling the property. Any fee must be structured as payment for an introduction, not as an agency commission.
Where the line falls
It is not where most people imagine, and it is worth knowing before finding yourself on the wrong side.
What counts as agency work
Bringing two parties together for a transaction while independent of both: that is the definition in article 1754 of the Italian civil code. If you take an offer, negotiate on price, arrange viewings or present yourself to the seller as the person handling the sale, you are acting as an agent, whatever you call it.
What does not
Telling your client you know a suitable agent and introducing them, leaving everything else to the agent. Nor is telling an agent that a client of yours might sell agency work, provided you then stay out of the negotiation.
What happens if you cross the line
Anyone acting as an agent without being registered risks a penalty and, more to the point, cannot enforce payment if the other side refuses. The case law is settled, and it is why many introductions go unpaid.
What you can do
Introduce an agent to your client. The simplest and safest form: the professional relationship stays yours, the sale is the agent’s.
Tell the agent an opportunity exists, without disclosing client details before the client agrees. An accountant who knows of an estate cannot describe it to an agent: they can ask their client whether they would like an introduction.
Stay in the conversation as your client’s adviser. On tax, on the estate, on the corporate side you carry on doing your job — which is often why the client mentioned the house to you in the first place.
What is better not to do: set the price, show the property, collect expressions of interest, appear in the documents as an intermediary.
Protecting the client relationship
The real concern of anyone making an introduction is not the fee: it is losing the client, or looking bad if the agent does a poor job.
Choose who you introduce them to
, and ask the agent how they work first. A serious professional has no difficulty saying how many comparable mandates they have handled and with what outcome.
Put the referral in writing, with a date
It matters if there is later a discussion about who brought whom, and it is the basis of any fee.
Ask to be kept informed
Not about the negotiation, which is not your concern, but about the client being properly looked after: that is what you are answerable for, having made the introduction.
How Realux works
Realux has a dedicated agreement for professionals who refer: accountants, lawyers, notaries, wealth managers. The referral stays a referral — you do not enter the negotiation — and the client relationship remains yours.
The client is assigned to a selected network agent covering that area, and you can follow the status of the referral without seeing the details of the negotiation, which are the parties’ business.
See how it works for advisersFrequently asked questions
- Can I be paid for a property referral?
- A fee for an introduction is legitimate, provided it is not an agency commission and the activity genuinely remains an introduction. The tax treatment differs depending on whether it is occasional or habitual, and in the second case VAT registration and the related requirements apply. Verify this with your own tax adviser before agreeing terms: this page describes practice, it does not replace advice.
- Am I taking a risk by introducing a client to an agent?
- Introducing two people is not agency work. The risk arises on entering the negotiation: discussing price, taking offers, handling viewings. Anyone wanting to stay clear makes the introduction and stops there, continuing to advise the client on their own subject.
- What is the difference between an agent and an introducer?
- An agent brings two parties together while remaining independent of both, and that activity is reserved to registrants. An introducer acts on the instructions of one party and on their behalf, so is not impartial. They are distinct roles with distinct rules, and the difference turns on conduct rather than on what the agreement is called.
- Can my client be looked after by an agent I do not know?
- They can, but the choice reflects on you, since you made the introduction. It is worth asking the agent how they work, whether they hold comparable sole mandates and how they report to clients — the same questions you would ask of any professional you send someone to.