Home purchase FAQ

What taxes must be paid for the purchase of a property with the "first home" incentives?
The taxes to be paid when buying with the "first home" benefits are:

_ if the seller is a private individual or a company that sells VAT exempt
proportional registration tax of 2% (instead of 9%)
Fixed mortgage tax of 50 euros
fixed cadastral tax of 50 euros

_if you purchase from a company, with sales subject to VAT
VAT reduced to 4%
fixed registration tax of 200 euros
Fixed mortgage tax of 200 euros
fixed cadastral tax of 200 euros

What are the requirements to take advantage of the "first home" benefits
The following conditions are necessary to benefit from the first home relief:
a) the property must be located in the territory of the municipality in which the buyer has or establishes his residence within 18 months of purchase (or if different, in the one in which the buyer carries out his business or, if transferred abroad for work reasons, in the one in which the person on whom he depends has his headquarters or carries out his business) or, in the case in which the buyer is an Italian citizen who has emigrated abroad, the property must be acquired as a first home on Italian territory;

b) the buyer must not be the exclusive owner or joint owner with his or her spouse of the rights of ownership, usufruct, use and habitation of another residential house in the territory of the municipality in which the property to be purchased is located;

c) the purchaser must not be the owner, not even by shares, even in a legal community regime throughout the national territory, of ownership, usufruct, use, habitation and bare ownership rights on another residential house purchased by the same person or by the spouse with the aforementioned (or other) benefits.

Must the energy certification certificate always be prepared and attached to the sales contract?
Yes, law 90/2013, converting the Legislative Decree. 63/2013, has introduced a new provision of great relevance for the deotarile activity, which provides that "the energy performance certificate must be attached to the sales contract, to the deeds of transfer of properties free of charge or to the new rental contracts, under penalty of nullity of the same contracts"

What is the certificate of habitability or usability?
The certificate of usability consists of a document that certifies that the property complies with current regulations in terms of safety, hygiene, healthiness and energy saving of a building or system.

The first thing to specify is that we must not confuse the concepts of usability and habitability:
- Habitability was granted to residential properties;
- The usability, however, was intended for properties with different uses.

With the introduction of the SCA Certified Viability Report, which took place with the Legislative Decree 69/2013, habitability and usability are combined in a single documentation.

The certificate of occupancy potentially lasts forever, as long as no interventions are carried out on the property that require the issuing of a new SCA.

What is the confirmation deposit?
It is the sum of money or quantity of fungible things that one party delivers to the other at the time of stipulation of the contract, as evidence of the commitment undertaken contractually.
Like the penalty clause, it is intended to strengthen the creditor's right to compensation.

It differs from the penalty clause because:
- the deposit is foreseeable only in contracts with corresponding services, while the penalty clause can be agreed in any contract;
- the deposit is foreseen only for non-compliance, while the penalty clause can also be established for delay in compliance;
- the deposit consists of a sum of money (or fungible things) which is immediately delivered to the counterparty upon signing the contract, while the penalty clause is a promise of future performance.

What is the preliminary contract?
It is a contract with which the parties undertake to stipulate a future contract (called definitive).
We speak of a unilateral preliminary agreement if only one of the parties undertakes the future stipulation; bilateral, if both parties agree to conclude the definitive agreement.

It is a contract with binding effect for the parties, who assume the obligation to provide future consent. As a perfectly valid and binding contract, the parties to the preliminary contract, which has as its object a performance, can request its forced execution in a specific form, through the specific request indicated in the art. 2932 of the civil code.
The civil code does not give a definition of 'preliminary contract', but mentions it in various areas, mainly in terms of form (see art. 1351 of the civil code which establishes that the preliminary contract is void if not made in the same form as the definitive one).

What is the notarial deed?
The deed is the document drawn up by the notary public official with the formalities required by law and which fully proves the facts and legal acts that the notary certifies as having occurred in his presence or carried out by him (art. 2699 Civil Code). The cost of the notarial deed is linked to its content.

The house purchase deed will have a cost linked to the transfer of ownership of the home, its price, whether the transfer takes place between private individuals or companies, the presence of tax breaks and so on.

Similarly, the cost of the land purchase deed will vary depending on whether the buyer is a direct farmer, a professional agricultural entrepreneur or not, or whether the intended use of the land is agricultural or building.

What is an irrevocable purchase offer?
This is the commitment to purchase a property under the conditions indicated therein; if it is accepted it is already a real contract.

The proposal is written in a pre-printed form filed with the chamber of commerce, in which the main elements are:
- the owner's data
- the data of the prospective buyer
- the data of the property and its description
- compliance with building, urban planning and cadastral regulations
- the legal status of the property (mortgages, foreclosures, easements)
- the origin of the property (deed, assignment, donation, succession, etc.)
- the data of the energy performance certificate
- the price offered
- the validity of the irrevocable purchase offer
- the details of the check delivered as a confirmation deposit
- payment methods and times
- the expected date for the deed
- any special conditions linked to the mortgage
- the registration data for the former role of qualified real estate agents, now REA.