» The importance of independent impartial legal advice
» The importance of ad hoc advice
» Italian law, language and translations
The importance of independent impartial legal advice
Buying property is always a major undertaking. If you are planning to invest in the Italian property market, we highly recommend that you take expert, independent legal advice.
In reality, however, the vast majority of people who buy a home in Italy do not obtain independent legal advice. Most seek legal advice only after having paid a deposit and signed a contract, or – more commonly – once they have already run into problems.As a general rule, we advise you not to sign anything or pay any money until you have sought legal advice in a language in which you are fluent from a lawyer who is experienced in Italian property law.
Trying to save money on legal costs can be very dangerous when a large sum of money is at stake.
Property in many parts of Italy is overvalued. Property up for sale may have legal and /or structural problems which are not always visible to the untrained eye. Usually, none of these will be explained to you by the different non-independent parties involved in the transaction, despite the fact that these same people often charge heavily for their involvement. For this reason, throughout this document we strongly urge you not to place confidence in any advice or information given to you by those with a financial interest in the sale of the property in which you are interested. In contrast, your separate independent legal adviser may be the only independent voice you will have during the whole transaction.
It is dangerous to rely on advice given by the seller and/or estate agents, mainly because:
(a) they are not lawyers;
(b) they both have a financial stake in selling the property to you, which inevitably means that their different interests will not coincide with yours. Some of them may not want you to know the truth. Put another way, they might be telling you what they want you to know, but not necessarily what you need to know. This explains why some estate agents are so often elusive and obstinate in negotiations, and why they are at the best lukewarm, if not outright hostile, at your taking separate independent legal advice.
The importance of ad hoc advice
You should consider yourself and your transaction to be unique. Therefore, by all means listen to, but never rely on, anecdotal or other general advice – however well intentioned it may be – given by friends or other people who already own or are in the process of buying Italian properties. The saying goes that “the devil is in the detail” and here is just one of the countless examples where this is true. Italian town and country planning regulations can vary markedly from municipality to municipality, and this is also true for also other regulations affecting Italian properties. So, what is permitted for one property may not be allowed for an identical property in the same geographical area.
At the risk of sounding self-serving, from our experience we strongly urge that no-one should attempt to buy any Italian property by relying solely on the advice of a notary or an estate agent, without having all documents checked by bilingual specialists.
Italian law, language and translations
All formal documents relating to Italian convincing must be written in the Italian language and are always governed by Italian law, regardless of the nationality, residence or domicile of the parties. Therefore neither party may designate a different foreign legal system to govern their property in Italy, nor a foreign language of their choice for the transaction. Italian legal jargon often bears as little resemblance to standard Italian as does its counterpart in English law to spoken English. It is important to ensure that nothing gets misunderstood or lost in translation. Do not therefore sign any document in Italian without understanding precisely what you are committing to in plain English. A number of estate agents use printed contracts which have English translations. None of these is ever correct, in the sense that either the translation itself is wrong or, more usually, some terms of English law have been used which conveys a wrong impression of the meaning of the original Italian term. Even if you sign an extract or summary in English, it is usually the full Italian version only that will have legal force. Do not presume that any claim that the document in Italian was not understood can be upheld as a legal defence. In any country, ignorance of the law and language is no excuse.
If the Italian authorities believe that your command of Italian is inadequate, they may insist that you appoint a qualified translator/interpreter in Italy for the whole of the Italian conveyancing transaction, or at least for the completion. The costs of this for one meeting may involve significant expense. If you want a professional interpreter involved at any stage, please ensure that he is qualified and totally independent. This would exclude, for example, a bilingual estate agent, a retired school teacher or an English-speaking relative of the seller, or others who might offer to explain the documents at the notary’s office at the moment of completion.
Your separate independent legal advisor will be able to communicate with you in plain English, and at the same time communicate with Italian professionals in the technical Italian language that they understand. This usually requires a degree of seniority and experience.