Foreword: the function of the transcription of the preliminary The preliminary contract for real estate purchase and sale represents one of the most common negotiating instruments in Italian contract practice. With it, the parties mutually obligate each other to enter into a future final contract having transactional effects. However, the long time interval that often...
Homebuyers (or investment property) often sign a preliminary purchase and sale agreement by paying a deposit. But what if, on the date of the deed, the property lacks a certificate of occupancy and – even worse – does not even qualify for it? On this point the Supreme Court (Sec. II), Order No. 2132, Feb....
The purchase of a property in Italy by a foreign national is a perfectly lawful and, in recent years, increasingly frequent transaction. However, foreign investors, families planning to move to our country or individuals interested in a second home are confronted with a legal system that has specific rules, often different from those in force...
Legal differences, binding effects, and concrete risks for the parties In the Italian real estate market, the phase preceding the preliminary contract is often governed by atypical or “practice” negotiation instruments, which, however, assume a far from secondary legal importance.Among these, the irrevocable purchase proposal and the LOI – letter of intent (or expression of...
Most real estate disputes arise before the deed: in the proposal, in the preliminary, in the handling of deposit and conditions, in the documentation of the property, or in the handover. The foreign buyer is statistically more exposed because they are moving through a system they are unfamiliar with and tend to “trust” standard forms....
For those from abroad, the stage of the real estate purchase proposal is often the most “dangerous” of the entire transaction. In many countries, in fact, the purchase offer is an informal, revocable step with no immediate effect. In Italy, on the other hand, the proposal is not a simple “expression of interest”: it can...
Dealing with down payments before the deed is the economic heart of the transaction. Many foreign buyers make the same mistake: they consider deposits and down payments as “money that comes back” if something goes wrong. In Italian law this is not the case: the legal qualification of the sums determines very different consequences. Down...
