When estimating the cost of purchasing your home in Italy there are five costs, other than the purchase price, that should be considered:
We charge 3% of the agreed purchase price with a minimum fee of Euros 2800 to which you have to add Italian VAT.
This includes:
Unlike the agent, who must be impartial under c.c.1754 of the Italian Civil code, the Geometra is paid by you to check both the legal and structural state of the house.
The structural part of the Geometra’s survey is very basic. If you require a full building survey then this would be an extra fee, paid to a licensed structural engineer or the Geometra. The price for this kind of structural survey is typically between Euros 500-700, but could be more so it always good to get a quote.
The Geometra then writes the preliminary contract and does the conveyancing.
The best Geometras cost 2%. On top of this they have to pay 6% of 50% of this fee to their professional board. There will also be expenses to obtain certificates from the various public offices in order to make your purchase a secure one.
In your ready reckoner, you should allow 2.5% of the agreed purchase price for the Geometra in total.
The cost of the Notary is borne by the buyer and is a state controlled fee for their services to oversee registering the public contract of your house purchase. The Notary costs between Euros 1500 – 3000 depending on the cost of your house.
All the above services are subject to IVA (VAT or Sales Tax) currently charged at 22%, but check for any changes to this rate.
You can buy your first house in Italy as a ‘first home or main residence’ as long as you take residence within 18 months. In this case you pay just 2% transfer tax. If you think you may sell your property within 5 years or if you don’t think you can prove residency, then you should buy as a non-resident.
If you are buying as a non-resident (recommended if you are not staying in Italy for more than 6 months continuously) the tax will be 9% of fiscal value. The fiscal value of the house is based on the cadastral value of the property revalued at 5% then multiplied by a coefficient given by the cadastral category.
Land is taxed at 12% but has a very low fiscal value (sometimes less than a euro per M Sq).
[1] We cannot act as brokers and cannot compare banks for you, we can, however, assist you with forwarding documentation and hastening the application. If you ask for extensive consultations with financial institutions, we may have to charge consultancy rates.
