What to check before buying land in Italy

You can walk a plot of land in an afternoon: its shape, the view, the road to get there. What decides whether it is a good buy, though, is almost all on paper: what the municipal plan allows, which restrictions apply, who farms it today, who has the right to buy it before you.

This guide puts the checks in the order in which it pays to make them, before you sign an offer or a preliminary contract. Some you can do yourself with public data, others need the municipality, a surveyor or engineer, and the notary. Their work is still needed: the guide helps you arrive with the right questions.

1. What can be done on the land

This is the first question, and the municipality gives the answer. The planning scheme divides the area into zones (agricultural, residential, industrial, public green space) and for each one says what can be built and how much. For a single parcel it is certified by the certificato di destinazione urbanistica, the CDU.

You request it from the municipality's technical office, giving the sheet and parcel numbers. The municipality issues it within 30 days and it is valid for one year, as long as the plan does not change in the meantime (DPR 380/2001, article 30). When land is sold it must be attached to the deed, otherwise the deed is void: you may as well ask for it before the preliminary contract rather than after.

"Building land" in a listing means little until you read the certificate. What counts is the building index (how many cubic or square metres can be built per square metre of land), the distances, the maximum height and whether a detailed plan is needed before a permit can be requested. On agricultural land you can usually build only for farming, and often only if the person building is a professional farmer.

2. The restrictions on top of the plan

On top of the plan come the restrictions, which the municipality lists in the certificate or explains at its technical office:

• hydrogeological restriction (vincolo idrogeologico, regio decreto 3267/1923): it covers much hill and mountain land and requires an authorisation for excavation, earthworks and felling woodland;
• landscape protection (D.Lgs. 42/2004): it applies by law near coasts, lakes and rivers, in woodland and in high mountains, and in areas declared of notable public interest. Building or changing the look of the place needs a landscape authorisation;
• buffer zones along roads, watercourses, cemeteries, power lines and public water wells, where nothing can be built;
• parks, reserves and Natura 2000 sites, with the rules of the body that runs them;
• land burnt by wildfires: nothing can be built for ten years, its use cannot change for fifteen, and the deed of sale must mention the restriction (legge 353/2000, article 10);
• civic use rights (usi civici): some land is for collective use (grazing, firewood) and can only be sold with an authorisation (legge 168/2017). The municipality or the regional usi civici office will know.

3. Landslides, floods and earthquakes

Land in a landslide or flood hazard area may face tight limits exactly where you want to build. The maps of the river basin authorities' plans (PAI) are brought together by ISPRA on the IdroGEO platform: classes P1 to P4 for landslides, scenarios P1, P2 and P3 for floods.

For earthquakes the seismic zone applies to the whole municipality; where the municipality has carried out seismic microzonation you also know how much the ground at that spot amplifies shaking. Anyone building must in any case commission a geological report for the project (Italian building code, NTC 2018).

4. What the land is like on the ground

• Access. Does the land have direct access from a public road? If you cross a neighbour's land you need a right of way written into a deed.
• Boundaries. The cadastral map is accurate to within a few metres, and the area drawn on it can differ from the one on the land registry record and from the real one. A surveyor (geometra) can survey the boundaries and reset the markers: on large plots or with uncertain boundaries it is worth doing before the deed.
• Water. Wells and water abstraction are registered or authorised (D.Lgs. 152/2006). If the land is served by an irrigation or land reclamation consortium, there is usually an annual contribution to pay.
• Utilities. Building needs electricity, water and drainage: if the networks are far away, bringing them to the plot can cost a lot, and whoever builds usually pays.
• Slope and aspect. Steep land costs more to work and to build on; north-facing land gets less sun for crops and for solar panels.

5. Who uses it today

Ask the seller whether the land is let or given to someone to farm, even under a verbal agreement. Agricultural tenancies usually run for at least 15 years (legge 203/1982) and may carry on after the sale: how and until when should be clarified with the notary. If someone has farmed land that is supposed to be vacant for years, ask on what basis: they may have a contract, or the right of first refusal described next.

6. The agricultural right of first refusal

On agricultural land the law gives priority to whoever farms it. The prelazione agraria belongs to the tenant farmer who has farmed the land for at least two years and, if the land is not let, to the neighbouring owner-farmer (legge 590/1965, article 8; legge 817/1971, article 7).

The seller sends the preliminary contract to whoever holds the right, who has 30 days to decide whether to buy on the same terms. If the notice is never given, they can redeem the land from the buyer within one year of the deed being registered. The notary knows this, but it pays to ask straight away who the neighbours are and what they do.

7. Ownership, mortgages and easements

As with a house, the notary checks the deed by which the seller acquired the land and whether there are mortgages, seizures or registered easements. For land, water pipe, power line and right-of-way easements in favour of neighbours matter too, and so do the structures standing on it: a shed or farm building without a land registry entry or building permit must be regularised before the deed. The land registry record for the land shows its official area, crop class (arable, vineyard, woodland) and income values.

8. Taxes and costs

Purchase taxes differ a lot between agricultural and building land, and there are reliefs for owner-farmers and professional farmers. Ask the notary to work out the figures before the preliminary contract, together with the surveyor's fee for the survey and paperwork.

The list in short

Points 2, 3 and part of 4 are in our report for buying land: area, slope, aspect, risks, landscape restrictions, protected areas and burnt land, with the questions to ask the municipality, the seller and the notary. You find the land by sheet and parcel or by the coordinates of the spot.

Sources

• DPR 380/2001, article 30 (planning use certificate).
• Legge 590/1965, article 8, and legge 817/1971, article 7 (agricultural right of first refusal); legge 203/1982 (agricultural contracts).
• Regio decreto 3267/1923 (hydrogeological restriction); D.Lgs. 42/2004 (landscape); legge 353/2000, article 10 (land burnt by wildfires); legge 168/2017 (collective land and civic use rights); D.Lgs. 152/2006 (water).
• ISPRA, IdroGEO platform: landslide and flood hazard.