Property due diligence in Italy, before you sign.

What due diligence means when buying in Italy

Due diligence is simply the work of verifying a property before you are committed to it. In Italy that matters more than in many countries, because a great deal can sit between a confident listing and a clean title: informal additions made over generations, registry records that were never updated, access that was “always used” but never registered, and inheritance that was never properly settled.

Our role is to read all of this first, from a buyer’s perspective, and turn it into a clear, prioritised list of what must be checked and by whom. We do not issue legal or technical certifications ourselves; we make sure the right licensed professionals are pointed at the right risks before any money or signature is committed.

The checks that matter most

Every property is different, but a thorough buyer-side review in Italy keeps coming back to the same core questions:

• Title and provenance (provenienza): who genuinely owns it, how they acquired it, and whether every owner – including all heirs – can actually sign.
• Cadastral accuracy (catasto): do the registered plans, category and parcel numbers match the building and land as they really are?
• Planning and abuso edilizio: was the work that exists actually permitted, and is anything unregularised that you would inherit?
• Habitability (agibilità): is there a valid certificate confirming the property is legally fit to live in?
• Access and rights of way (servitù): is there a registered legal route to a public road, and do shared rights transfer to you?
• Charges and debts: any mortgages, liens, or unpaid condominium (condominio) costs registered against the property.
• Boundaries and what is included: confirming the land, outbuildings and parcels shown in the listing are the ones named in the deed.

Where the documents enter the process

Most of these answers live in documents: the visura and planimetria catastale, the atto di provenienza, building permits and any condono or sanatoria, the energy certificate, and the draft proposta and preliminary contract (compromesso). Reading them in the right order, and noticing where they disagree with each other or with the building, is the heart of due diligence.

The most expensive mistakes happen when a buyer signs the proposta di acquisto or pays a deposit before this reading is done. Leverage disappears the moment you commit, so the entire value of due diligence is in doing it first.

Frequently asked questions

When should due diligence happen?

Before you sign the proposta di acquisto or pay any deposit. Once a proposal is accepted it can bind you to buy, and a deposit (caparra) can be at risk. Doing the checks first is what keeps your options, and your leverage, open.

What documents are needed to start?

Usually the listing, the visura and planimetria catastale (registry extract and plan), the atto di provenienza (title history), any building permits or condono, and the draft proposta or compromesso. We tell you exactly what to request and read them against each other.

Do you carry out the legal and technical checks yourselves?

We carry out the buyer-side reading and risk assessment, and we identify precisely what must be formally verified. The legal, notarial, cadastral and structural checks themselves are performed by licensed professionals, whom we help you engage.

How is this different from what the notary does?

The notaio (notary) is a neutral public official who ensures the deed is valid and transfers title; they act for the transaction, not specifically for you, and they engage late in the process. Buyer-side due diligence works for you and happens before you are committed, flagging issues while you can still act on them.

Do the checks before you're committed, not after.

Send us the property and we'll scope the right level of due diligence, from a 390 euro Quick Check upward.