Køb af fast ejendom, hus eller lejlighed i Italien

De største udfordringer ved køb af fast ejendom, hus eller lejlighed i Italien

Under et køb af fast ejendom, hus eller lejlighed i Italien er den største udfordring at finde den passende ejendom og vælge de rigtige rådgivere.

Der er typisk brug fortre rådgivere, hvis man skal være på den sikre side, når man erhverver fast ejendom i Italien:

• En ejendomsmægler
• En byggesagkyndig – gerne arkitekt eller landmåler (geometra)
• En italiensktalende advokat.
• Det er tiden og umagen værd at lære disse tre aktører at kende, når man skal købe fast ejendom. Manglende kendskab til de enkelte regler og manglende forholdsregler kan føre til, at man enten slet ikke har købt ejendommen. Der er også risiko for at blive involveret i endeløse retssager i Italien.

Handel ikke gyldig uden notar

Udover de tre nævnte rådgivere skal man være opmærksom på, at overførsel af fast ejendom, hus eller lejlighed i Italien kræver, at en notar udarbejder et skøde. Med andre ord: En simpel skriftlig aftale, som de to parter underskriver, overfører ikke den faste ejendom. Uden notar ingen handel!

Ejendomsmægleren

I Italien, som i Danmark, kan man kun kalde sig ejendomsmægler, hvis man har en uddannelse, har bestået en statseksamen. Man skal også være registreret i det lokale handelskammer som autoriseret mægler.

Kun autoriserede ejendomsmæglere kan handle med fast ejendom og kan kræve salær!

Det er et krav, at autoriserede ejendomsmæglere skal være forsikrede.

Det skal fremgå af ejendomsmæglerens brevpapir, at den pågældende er autoriseret mægler – Agente immobilare autorizzato – hedder det på italiensk.

Den byggesagkyndige

I Italien køber man ejendom, hus eller lejlighed som beset. Der findes ingen tilstandrapport. Det er derfor en god ide at lade ejendommen gennemgå af en professionel håndværker eller en lokal arkitekt eller landmåler, geometra, inden købet!

It is important to know how the Italian legal system works, and it is not enough to know the Danish legal system.

Buying real estate, a house or an apartment in Italy takes place in a different way than in Denmark. You need to know the applicable legal rules in Italy to be able to guide the buyers correctly.

The lawyer reviews all documents and makes sure that the property is owned by the seller and that there are no mortgages or other rights resting on the property.

REMEMBER that a real estate agent is the “seller’s” man and only has an interest in selling the property as quickly as possible at the best possible price, while the lawyer takes care of the buyer’s interests.

The estate agent and the lawyer therefore have two different roles and cannot replace each other.

Beware of the unqualified “Helpers”

As a foreigner, you run the risk of meeting a group of people who, of course, do not call themselves brokers or lawyers, but who nevertheless offer to “help” in various ways with the purchase of real estate.

The help can consist of translation of documents, review of the property with a view to ascertaining whether the property suffers from faults and defects, repairs and restoration of the property, application to authorities, (unqualified) legal assistance and contact with authorities, including banks.

What these people have in common is that they do not possess any qualifications, except possibly experience, which is usually limited. My advice is to avoid getting involved with these people, no matter how nice and helpful they are.

They typically advertise that they are cheaper than a trained adviser – broker, architect, lawyer – but end up demanding an amount for their help. Before you say “yes, thank you” to the offer to save a few thousand kroner, it is worth assessing whether it is worth the price to save a little money and take a big risk, as described for example. here:

Recently, a new group of unqualified helpers has appeared. These are typically Danes living in Italy or foreign companies selling properties in Italy.

These people/companies advertise with the following motto: “Buy holiday property in Italy IN DANISH! Go safely and securely through all purchase phases in Italy with documents in DANISH and with the guarantees that DANISH law gives you. You have the option of filing a lawsuit in Denmark if something goes wrong!”

Many feel reassured by this “guarantee” and happily say “Yes, thank you” to the offer. But just remember the following

Main rules when buying real estate, house or apartment in Italy:

• When the property is located in Italy, the purchase must take place according to Italian law. If you buy according to the Danish rules on purchase, the property is NOT transferred.
• Danish law, including the Purchase Act, does not apply in Italy. A Danish purchase agreement therefore does not apply in Italy.
• The legal language in Italy is Italian. That is that all documents must be translated into Italian and that in the event of doubt about the interpretation of an agreement, the Italian text shall prevail. (An exception is documents drawn up in South Tyrol, which is bilingual: Italian and German and in Vallé d’Aoste, which is also bilingual: Italian and French)
• It is possible that the purchase agreement contains a clause that the company that sold the property can be sued in Denmark, but this clause is not worth much.
• A case regarding e.g. errors and omissions in real estate often include translation of several Italian documents, including Italian laws and regulations, inspection and assessment of the property in Italy and examination of Italian legislation, which is unknown to a Danish judge.
• Carrying out a case of this kind in Denmark will be so difficult and costly that it will not be worth the price.
• Often the seller/advisors are not insured, and it will therefore be impossible to get compensation paid.

Unfortunate examples when buying real estate, house or apartment in Italy

A Danish-registered company invests in a project in Southern Italy.

According to the project, 20 bungalows will be built with direct access to the beach.

A swimming pool and tennis courts as well as green areas are to be built.

The purchase agreement is in Danish and refers to the Danish Purchase Act.

The purchase agreement describes all the rights that the buyers get when buying a house in Italy. The project shows how the finished project should look.

Shortly after the purchase, it turns out that there are several deficiencies in the houses, namely:

• the swimming pool, the tennis court and the green areas cannot be built,
• the land where the pool was to be located belongs to the Danish company,
• access to the beach is not direct, but goes through a plot belonging to a hotel, which requires payment upon passage,

The buyers would like to file a lawsuit against the company, but it has since gone bankrupt.

Therefore, they turn to the local authorities and file a case.

However, they are told that the purchase agreement does not apply because it refers to Danish legislation, which does not apply in Italy.

The buyers are now trying to sell, but no one will buy a property that is defective.

The buyers can only sell at a large loss.

There are even more glaring cases where the “helper” has offered to pay the seller, the notary, the craftsmen etc

The purchase price and other amounts had to be deposited into the “helper’s” account with the regrettable result that the money has evaporated.

The buyers are then directed to contact the police, who in most cases can do nothing.

These are just a few examples that show where buying a house in Italy can go wrong. That is why you must turn to professionals when buying real estate in Italy.

Click here to get in touch with Sandra Moll Dirscherl .

See also an article about buying real estate in Italian here.