The offer and the preliminary contract
It is not a form. It is the contract.
The paper an agent slides across the table is called a proposta d’acquisto, and buyers treat it as an expression of interest. It is not. The moment the seller’s acceptance reaches you, you have bought the house — months before the notary, and with every consequence that follows.
The moment it stops being reversible
There is no cooling-off period in an Italian property purchase. There is a before and an after, and the line falls earlier than almost every foreign buyer expects.
While you wait, only you are bound
Your offer is irrevocable for the number of days written on it. The seller can take it or leave it; you cannot pull it back. Which is why that number should be small — seven to fifteen days. A long one freezes your deposit and your search for nothing in return.
art. 1326 c.c.
Acceptance makes it a contract
Not when you shake hands, not when the notary is booked: when the acceptance is communicated to you. From that instant it is a preliminary contract in full, backing out makes you the party in breach, and the deposit rules start to bite.
artt. 1326, 1385 c.c.
And the commission becomes due
The agent is paid for concluding the deal, and the deal is concluded at the accepted offer — not at the deed. So the commission is normally owed even if the purchase later collapses, unless a condition you wrote in fails, or the agent withheld something they were obliged to tell you.
artt. 1755, 1757 c.c.
The bill nobody mentions before you sign
An accepted offer whose terms are complete enough to form a preliminary contract — which is to say, nearly always — has to be registered with the tax office within twenty days. It carries a real cost, and buyers discover it after they are already bound.
What registration costs
- Fixed registration tax€200
- Stamp duty, per four pages€16
- On the caparra confirmatoria, and on any part payment of the price where VAT does not apply0.50%
- On a caparra penitenziale instead3%
One rate for both since 1 January 2025 — before that date part payments carried 3%, and most guides still say so. It is also capped: you pay 0.50% or the lower tax due on the deed itself, whichever is less. The registration tax paid here is set off against what you pay at the deed. The stamp duty is not — that one is gone. Where the sale is subject to VAT, part payments are invoiced with VAT and carry the €200 fixed tax.
DPR 131/1986, art. 10 Tariffa Parte I · Agenzia delle Entrate · 11/09/2026
Whose job it is, and whose money
DPR 131/1986
Three words that look alike and are not
What your cheque is called decides what happens to it if the deal collapses. The word is chosen by whoever drafted the form, and it is worth more than anything else printed on it.
Caparra confirmatoria
A guarantee, and the default.
If you are the one who defaults, the seller keeps it. If the seller defaults, you can walk away and demand twice what you paid — or instead insist the sale goes through, or claim termination and damages. If all goes well it comes off the price. Typically 5–10% at the offer, 10–20% by the preliminary contract.
art. 1385 c.c.
Caparra penitenziale
A priced exit.
It buys the right to withdraw: you lose the deposit, they lose double, and neither side can claim anything further. It has to say so expressly. Without those words the law presumes the other kind — which means the seller can pursue you for more than the deposit. It also costs six times more to register: 3% instead of 0.5%, so 600 € instead of 100 € on a 20,000 € deposit.
art. 1386 c.c.
Acconto
Just an advance.
An instalment of the price and nothing more. If the deal collapses it comes back, but never doubled, and it guarantees nothing. A seller who reassures you that it is “only an advance” is quietly removing your strongest protection.
art. 1385 c.c., a contrario
And the cheque itself
art. 49 DLgs 231/2007
The clause worth more than the rest of this page
If you need a mortgage and your offer does not make the purchase conditional on getting one, then a bank refusal costs you the deposit and the commission anyway. The clause that prevents this is four lines long, and agency forms almost never contain it.
What it has to contain to work
- 01A fixed date by which the bank must decide, and the amount you need. Not “within a reasonable time” — a date.
- 02A requirement that a refusal be given in writing by the bank.
- 03What happens to the deposit: returned in full, within a stated number of days, with no penalty.
- 04That no commission arises if the condition fails. Without this line the agency can still invoice you.
artt. 1353, 1757 c.c.
And if it is missing
artt. 1385, 1755 c.c.
The second condition, which nobody offers you
The same mechanism works for the survey: the purchase can be made conditional on a surveyor of your choosing confirming that the building matches its plans and its land registry entry, within a stated number of days. Agencies rarely propose it. You have to ask, and it is the cheapest protection in the whole purchase.
art. 1353 c.c.
The wording itself
Knowing what the clause must do is not the same as having it. The Italian text — the one you hand to the agent, with the dates, the deposit, and the commission all closed off — is in the Complete report, drafted to be signed as it stands and reviewed before it goes out.
Before you sign the offer
Ten things to settle while you still have leverage. After acceptance every one of them costs money to change.
- 01
A short irrevocability period
Seven to fifteen days. Longer ties up your deposit and stops you looking at anything else while the seller shops your offer around.
- 02
The property, described exactly
Land registry references, the cellar and the parking space, whether it is vacant or tenanted, and what stays behind: the kitchen, the fitted wardrobes, the boiler.
- 03
The money, in stages
Deposit at the offer, further deposit at the preliminary contract, balance at the deed — every stage by traceable means.
- 04
The dates, and why
Preliminary contract within X days, deed within Y. Sixty to a hundred and twenty days is typical, longer with a foreign mortgage. Always ask why a long date is long — and above six months, insist on a notarial preliminary contract that is registered against the property.
- 05
The mortgage condition
Unless you already hold a written approval. See the clause above: date, written refusal, deposit returned, no commission.
- 06
The survey condition
Subject to a surveyor of your own confirming that the building matches its plans and its land registry entry.
- 07
What the seller states in writing
No mortgages or seizures registered, no unauthorised works, no service-charge arrears, habitability certificate present or absent, condition of the installations.
- 08
The cheque
Non-transferable, to the seller, on deposit until acceptance, receipted with its number.
- 09
The small print on the commission
When it becomes due, how much, and what happens to it if the deal falls apart. It is usually the longest paragraph on the form and the least read.
- 10
No hurry
“There is another offer, sign today” is the most expensive sentence in the market. And you are not obliged to use their form: an offer can be drafted by you, or by a lawyer.
Clauses that do not bind you
Between a business and a consumer, a term that creates a significant imbalance of rights and obligations to the consumer’s disadvantage is void — and void in your favour only, which a judge can raise without being asked. The agency has to prove the term was individually negotiated for it to survive.
artt. 33, 34, 36 Codice del Consumo
What the competition authority struck down
In 2014 the Italian competition authority examined the standard forms of eight of the largest agency networks and declared these terms unfair.
All six, in full6
- Exclusivity obligations that are not made clear
- Automatic renewal of an exclusive mandate
- A notice period for cancellation set so early that renewal is hard to avoid
- Penalties close to the entire commission — for breaching exclusivity, for declining to contract, for the sale not completing, for withdrawing the mandate, for not making the property available to view
- Terms limiting the consumer’s right to sue or to raise defences
- Excessive irrevocability periods on the offer
AGCM, 2014
And what to strike out yourself
These are not on any authority’s list. They are simply common, and each one moves a risk from them to you.
All six, in full6
- Commission due “even if the deed is not completed, for any reason whatsoever”
- The agency released from all responsibility for the information it gave you
- An obligation to use the notary or the mortgage broker they recommend
- A penalty on you if the seller refuses an offer that met their terms
- A jurisdiction clause naming a court far from where you live
- A free right of withdrawal that belongs to the agency alone
What you can do about them
A void term simply does not apply. An excessive penalty can be reduced by a judge. Beyond that: a complaint to the competition authority, conciliation at the Chamber of Commerce, and for claims up to €5,000 the small claims judge. Pre-printed onerous terms also need a second, specific signature to be effective at all — one signature at the bottom of the page is not enough.
art. 1384 c.c.; artt. 1341-1342 c.c.
The practical version
The preliminary contract itself
Il compromesso. Written form is compulsory, and it has to be complete: the parties, the property, the price, the deposit, the dates, the handover, the planning and land registry declarations, the condition of the building, the condominium, the warranties for defects.
Registered within twenty days
Thirty if it is drawn up by a notary. Same costs as the accepted offer above — and if you already registered the offer, you are not paying twice for the same tax.
DPR 131/1986
The move almost nobody makes
A preliminary contract signed before a notary can be registered against the property itself. It costs more, and it reserves your purchase for a year: mortgages, seizures or a second sale registered after yours cannot be used against you. Worth it when the deposit is large, when the gap to the deed is long, or when the seller is a company, in debt, or separating.
art. 2645-bis c.c.
Buying off-plan changes the rules
A developer must hand you a bank guarantee covering every sum you pay, and a ten-year structural policy. Without the guarantee the contract is void. Never pay a builder an instalment before you are holding it.
DLgs 122/2005
And the notary is your choice
The buyer pays for the deed, so the buyer picks the notary. Name them in the preliminary contract. An agency that insists on its own is not doing you a favour.
art. 1475 c.c.
The person, not the paperwork
If they ask how much you can spend, do not answer
«How high could you go?» It sounds like they are trying to help. But if you say €200,000, you will never be shown that house at €180,000. Your number becomes the starting point — and the higher it is, the more the person who asked earns, because their commission is a percentage of the price.
It is not spite, it is a method. There are others, and you spot them the moment someone names them: the viewing where there is «a lot of interest» and you see nobody, the rival offer that always lands just above yours, your own doubt handed back to you turned around so that it sounds settled.
This page tells you what you are signing. The file tells you what to say — and what not to say — to the person putting it in front of you.
When an agent can charge you →
Everything that can go wrong →
And the papers to ask for before you get there
None of this is legal advice. Every line above carries the article or the ruling it comes from, and the date it was checked — but your case is yours, and it goes to a notary before you sign.
Checked on 25 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.