Before you make an offer
Ask for these papers
Use the Italian names. Ask in English and you get a shrug; ask in Italian and you get the document. An agent who cannot produce them is telling you something.
0 of 6 papers in hand
01
Visura catastale
Land registry extract
Category, cadastral income and the registered owners.
The cadastral income is what your tax is calculated on. And every owner listed must be at the signing — if one is missing, the sale cannot complete.
Say it in Italian:
Mi può dare una copia di questo documento: visura catastale?
02
Planimetria catastale
Registered floor plan
The layout filed with the land registry.
Walk the house with it in your hand. Walls moved, a veranda enclosed, an attic turned into a bedroom — if the plan does not match what you see, you inherit the problem and the cost.
Say it in Italian:
Mi può dare una copia di questo documento: planimetria catastale?
03
Atto di provenienza
How the seller got the property
The deed, inheritance or gift that made them the owner.
Inherited property needs every single heir to sign. If the seller received it as a gift, that used to be a reason to walk away — since December 2025 it is not: heirs can claim money, no longer the house. What still matters is that no heir’s claim was registered against the property before your purchase, which the title search will show. Read it for four words as well: piano di zona, PEEP, convenzione, diritto di superficie. Any of them and the flat was built on council land under an agreement that caps its price for good, until somebody pays to lift the cap.
Say it in Italian:
Mi può dare una copia di questo documento: atto di provenienza?
04
Relazione di regolarità edilizia (RRE)
Building compliance report
A qualified surveyor reconstructs every permit ever issued for the building and checks them against the actual rooms and the land registry.
Nobody has to give you this — it is voluntary, so it appears only if you ask. But the deed must declare that the property matches its registered plans, and that declaration is void if it is untrue. This is how you find out before you sign, not after.
Say it in Italian:
Mi può dare una copia di questo documento: relazione di regolarità edilizia (RRE)?
05
APE
Energy performance certificate
The energy rating, valid ten years, attached to the deed itself.
It must legally be in the listing already. If the agent cannot produce it, that tells you how the rest of the file is kept. Missing it costs both sides a fine, but the sale still stands — unlike the compliance documents above, where the deed itself can be void.
Say it in Italian:
Mi può dare una copia di questo documento: APE?
06
Liberatoria dell'amministratore
Building manager’s clearance
Written confirmation of unpaid charges and any major works already voted.
You are liable for the building’s unpaid charges for the current year and the one before. A facade renovation voted last month becomes your bill.
Say it in Italian:
Mi può dare una copia di questo documento: liberatoria dell'amministratore?
"It's all fine, trust us" is worth nothing. Ask for the documents, and have a surveyor of your own check them before you sign anything — not after.
Work out what the purchase costs you →
Checked on 22 Aug 2026
The words you will hear
The notary and the agent will use these in Italian. Learn the Italian word: it is the one you will see on every paper.
- rogito
- The deed of sale, signed in front of the notary. The house becomes yours at that moment, the rest of the price is paid, and the notary collects the taxes.
- proposta d'acquisto
- Your offer, in writing. It binds you for the days written on it, and once the seller accepts and you are told, it already counts as the preliminary contract: there is no cooling-off period.
- preliminare (compromesso)
- The preliminary contract: buyer and seller commit to the sale, at an agreed price and by a date. It has to be registered within 20 days. Not a draft: walking away from it costs money.
- caparra confirmatoria
- The deposit paid when you commit. If you walk away, the seller keeps it; if the seller walks away, they pay it back double. Not the same as an «acconto», which is only an advance and never comes back doubled.art. 1385 c.c.
- agibilità
- The document that says the building meets safety and hygiene rules. A house can be sold without it, but its absence has to be declared in the deed and weighs on value, mortgage and use: ask before you offer.