Secrets of Buying Property in Italy

[00:00:08] Luca: Hello everyone. Welcome to the Magic Towns Italy podcast. I am Luca joined by Anna, my co-host. [00:00:16] Anna: Hi everyone. [00:00:17] Luca: We have a new format for the podcast because, well, we thought we’ll make it special. [00:00:23] We have something exciting to discuss. We have launched our ultimate guide to buying and owning property in Italy. And since we spent three months working on it we thought the two of us would get in front of the mic and talk to you. [00:00:39] Anna: So we are covering stuff like, uh, why Italian notaries are actually super helpful. How buying at auction isn’t as scary as you think. Some smart ways to budget for renovations and a bunch more cool stuff. [00:00:54] Luca: That’s right. Some of the, you might say, most interesting things or funniest things sometimes from, uh, about a hundred pages of guide. And by the end of this, you have an idea, a little taste of what’s inside the property guide. And just for, uh, your information, the guide is, uh, free for all Magic Towns subscribers. [00:01:17] And, uh, anyone who is not a subscriber is welcome to come to Magic Towns Italy and, uh, take a sub subscription or buy the guide if you prefer. So shall we get started, Anna? [00:01:28] Anna: Yeah. So first thing we gotta talk about someone you will definitely meet when buying Italian property, but most people don’t get what they do. [00:01:38] Luca: When I came back to Italy, I was, uh, a little bit meh about notaries thinking, okay, here’s another archaic relic of Italy bureaucratic past. [00:01:50] And getting into an office where everyone’s wearing a suit and mahogany furniture, little bit formal. I thought, okay, that’s so outdated. But actually I changed my mind. I think that Italy’s notary system is one of the best consumer protections in the property world. [00:02:10] Surprising, right? [00:02:12] Anna: A lot of foreigners think the notary is just another annoying paperwork person, but they’re actually on your side. Like these people are seriously trained, legal expert, or basically act like gatekeepers [00:02:25] Luca: That’s right. One of the things that, one of the myths that we bust in the guide is this, uh, idea that you could accidentally buy a house, uh, with the bad title or serious issues on the land registry. It’s called the cadastre in Italy. And I think that drives me crazy. Um. When I see these, uh, lawyers on expat forums say, oh, we saved this poor expat from buying a property from a person that did not legally own it. That’s never going to happen. A notary will never let it happen. Before you are allowed to purchase the property, they are going to triple check who owns it, how they got the property. [00:03:11] So since you have to pay them anyway, you have to pay one to 2% of the purchase price. And then like an attorney, they don’t nickel and dime you for asking questions and that the, you’ll say a flat fee. Ask them anything and get your money’s worth from the notary. [00:03:26] Anna: Basically they make sure everyone sticks to the deal. So for example, if your seller promised to fix something or hand over paperwork before closing, the notary won’t finish the sale until it’s done. They make sure nobody can just bail on what they agree to. That’s right. In Italy if a seller backs out for no good reason, they have to give you back, double your deposit as a penalty, like double, and that’s the actual law. [00:03:55] So [00:03:56] Luca: Yeah, it’s sometimes it’s worth paying a little bit more in deposit knowing that, uh, the bigger the deposit or the stronger the incentive for the seller to agree to what they have at contract. So I would say that the, the notary flips the script a little bit. Instead of buyer beware, it...