Legal responsibilities of the real estate agent in Italy
According to the Law 39/1989 the real estate agent must be registered with the local Chamber of Commerce. If the agent is not registered, he will then be liable to fines and other penalties and he will not be entitled to the agreed commission. This legislation provides an important guarantee for the consumer requesting that real estate agents must have adequate insurance cover in order to practise their profession. Such insurance policy should cover cases of professional negligence.
According to article 1759 of the Italian Civil Code the real estate agent must inform the parties of the circumstances in his knowledge regarding the safety of the transaction. Consequently, although the real estate agent cannot be charged with technical-juridical investigations concerning the property that might have an impact on the transaction (legal due diligence), he is nevertheless charged with duties of information according to the principles of the normal professional diligence. The real estate agent is therefore obliged to give information on each circumstance in his knowledge or that simply he should have known according to principle of normal professional diligence. Wrong or non-verified information would not be acceptable according to the law.
Lack of respect of such principle could cause contractual responsibility and the right of the consumer to request repayment of the commission. Under special circumstances the consumer could also be entitled to request compensation for damages.
If the guilty silence of the real estate agent induced the consumer to finalize the contract under different conditions than he would have had had he been properly informed, the real estate agent could be responsible to pay for the difference.
According to article 1755 Civil Code, if the deal is closed thanks to his intervention, the real estate agent is entitled to a commission from both parties. Such a right could arise already at the signing of the preliminary contract, assuming that such contract were complete in all the essential elements.
In order to be entitled to the commission the real estate agent must have a decisive role in the transaction. Simply generating the lead of a potential buyer without accomplishing any other task is not enough to be entitled to such right.
The law does not provide the cost of the commission, therefore this can always be freely agreed by the parties. It is always advisable to agree the commission in writing.