Quick answer: an Italian purchase runs 60 to 120 days from accepted offer to deed, and the variation is almost entirely financing. What lengthens it is not the number of steps but their dependencies: the codice fiscale gates the bank account, the compromesso gates the mortgage valuation, and the seller’s planning file gates the rogito date. Foreign buyers lose time by treating these as parallel tasks when three of them are strictly serial.
Most guides to buying in Italy present the purchase as a list. A list implies you can work down it. The Italian sequence is a dependency chain, and three of its links cannot be shortened by working harder, only by starting them earlier.
Which steps are strictly serial, and which can run in parallel?
Four things have to happen in order, and everything else fits around them. The codice fiscale comes first because the bank account application asks for it, the preliminary contract asks for it, and the deed carries it. The bank account follows, because a non-resident wiring a six-figure balance from abroad on deed day is the single most common cause of a rogito being rescheduled. The mortgage valuation follows the signed compromesso, because Italian lenders will not send a surveyor to a property the applicant has no contract on. The deed follows the notary’s searches, which follow the seller producing a complete planning file.
Everything else is parallel work: viewing trips, the survey, insurance quotes, the translation of a foreign marriage certificate for the regime patrimoniale declaration. Buyers who treat the four serial links as parallel arrive at the compromesso with a 60-day deadline and a bank that has not yet opened their account.
| Step | Typical duration | What it waits for |
|---|---|---|
| Codice fiscale | 1 day to 3 weeks | Nothing. Start immediately |
| Italian bank account | 2 to 4 weeks | Codice fiscale |
| Accepted proposta | Days | Nothing |
| Compromesso | 2 to 6 weeks after acceptance | Basic document check |
| Mortgage perizia and offer | 6 to 10 weeks | Signed compromesso |
| Notary searches | 3 to 6 weeks | Seller’s planning file |
| Rogito | Set by the slowest of the two above | Both |
- Start the codice fiscale before the second viewing trip, not after an accepted offer
- Open the account while searching, since the bank’s checks on a non-resident run longer than a domestic file
- Book the survey during the compromesso window, when there is still a price to renegotiate
- Ask for the seller’s planning documents at the offer stage, because their absence is what moves the deed date
Why does the mortgage start so late, and what does that cost?
The bank’s clock begins at the compromesso, not at the offer, and this single fact explains most blown timelines on financed purchases. An Italian lender assessing a non-resident wants the signed preliminary contract before instructing the perizia, because the valuation is an expense the bank will not carry on a deal that has not been agreed. From that signature, 6 to 10 weeks is a normal run to a formal offer: 2 to 3 weeks to book and receive the valuation, 3 to 6 weeks for credit assessment on a foreign income file.
The consequence is arithmetic. A compromesso that sets a 90-day rogito deadline gives a financed buyer roughly four weeks of slack. A compromesso that sets 60 days gives them none, and the deposit is what is at stake if the bank is late. The suspensive clause that makes the contract conditional on the mortgage is therefore not a formality: it is the only thing standing between an ordinary bank delay and a forfeited caparra. Our non-resident mortgage guide covers what the lender actually asks a foreign applicant for.
Foreign buyers commonly compress this by getting an agreement in principle before they offer. It does not shorten the perizia, but it moves the credit assessment forward by several weeks, and it tells the buyer what price the bank will support before they commit to one.
- Risk: a perizia below the agreed price cuts the loan, not the price. On a €400,000 purchase at 60% loan-to-value, a valuation at €370,000 removes €18,000 of borrowing and the buyer funds the gap in cash
- Insider tip: ask the agent when the seller last had the property valued. A recent bank valuation on a failed sale predicts the number yours will produce
- Book the valuation in the week the compromesso is signed, not when the bank chases
What does the notary do that nobody else can, and when?
The notaio is not the buyer’s lawyer and not a formality at the end. From the moment of instruction the notary orders the cadastral and mortgage searches, verifies the seller’s title back through the chain, checks that the plans on file match the building, and confirms nothing is registered against the property. This is the step the buyer has least control over and the one that most often decides the deed date.
What surfaces here is usually the seller’s problem and always the buyer’s delay: an inherited property where one heir never formally accepted, a veranda enclosed in 1998 that was never filed, a mortgage discharged in practice but never cancelled in the register. Each has a fix and each has a duration, from two weeks for a cancellation to several months for a succession. The notary’s role sets out what the office does and does not cover, and due diligence covers the checks a buyer should run independently rather than waiting for.
The practical decision framework is about timing rather than trust. Instruct the notary at the compromesso stage rather than a month before the deed, ask for the search results as they arrive rather than in a bundle at the end, and treat any gap in the planning file as a date-mover until proven otherwise.
How does the money move, and at which points is it exposed?
Payment happens in three tranches and each carries a different exposure. The deposit attached to the proposta is small, frequently a few thousand euros, and is usually held by the agency until the seller accepts or refuses. The caparra confirmatoria at the compromesso is 10% to 20% and is genuinely at risk, since it is forfeited if the buyer fails to complete for a reason the contract does not excuse. The balance moves at the rogito.
Since 2007 the balance is traceable by law and the notary records the payment details in the deed. Most notaries now hold funds in a conto dedicato, a dedicated escrow account, and release them to the seller only after the deed is registered and the searches confirm nothing new has been registered against the property in the interval. That interval is short and it is exactly when a last-minute charge would appear.
| Payment | Typical size | Held by | Buyer’s exposure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proposta deposit | €1,000 to €10,000 | Agency | Returned if the seller refuses |
| Caparra at compromesso | 10% to 20% | Seller or notary | Forfeited on unexcused withdrawal |
| Balance at rogito | Remainder | Notary escrow | Protected until registration |
- Route the balance through the notary rather than direct to the seller, even where the seller prefers otherwise
- Plan the currency conversion around the deed date, since transferring the money is where the exchange spread does its damage
- Keep the caparra and the price separate in the contract wording, because a deposit described as acconto has none of the caparra’s protections
What are the two deadlines that start on deed day?
The rogito ends the purchase and starts two clocks the notary does not administer. If prima casa relief was claimed, residence must be registered in the comune within 18 months, and the relief is recovered with interest and a penalty if it is not. If the property is let, the tenancy contract must be filed with the Agenzia delle Entrate within 30 days.
Neither deadline announces itself. Both appear in file reviews as the most common post-completion failure among foreign owners, and the first is expensive: a buyer who claimed 2% registration tax instead of 9% on a €300,000 cadastral base and then never moved their residence faces the difference plus a 30% penalty on it. The prima casa comparison sets out who can realistically meet the residence condition.
- Red flag checklist for the first month: utilities not transferred, cadastral registration not confirmed, comune not notified for IMU, condominium administrator not informed of the ownership change
- Diarise the 18-month residence date on the day of the deed, not later
- Confirm the notary has filed the deed for registration, which is normally within 30 days
What happens when a link in the chain breaks?
Deals rarely die at the deed. They die when one dependency fails and nobody rebuilt the schedule around it, so the compromesso deadline arrives with the buyer in breach rather than the seller.
Each failure has a repair and a duration, and the choice is always between extending the deadline and accepting the cost. A bank declining after the perizia leaves two routes: a second lender, which restarts the 6 to 10 week clock from scratch because the new bank orders its own valuation, or completing with more cash. A cadastral mismatch found by the notary needs a geometra to file an updated plan, which runs 2 to 6 weeks and a few hundred euros where the discrepancy is minor and considerably longer where it is a planning matter rather than a drawing error. An unaccepted inheritance in the title chain is the slowest: the heirs must formally accept before they can sell, and where one of them is abroad or unwilling, months rather than weeks is the realistic estimate.
| What failed | Repair | Realistic duration |
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage declined after valuation | New lender, new perizia | 6 to 10 weeks, restarted |
| Cadastral plan does not match the building | Geometra files updated plan | 2 to 6 weeks |
| Unregistered works found in the file | Regularisation under current tolerances | 1 to 6 months |
| Heir never accepted the inheritance | Formal acceptance by all heirs | 2 months upward |
| Old mortgage never cancelled | Bank issues cancellation | 2 to 8 weeks |
The buyer’s leverage is the extension letter. An Italian compromesso deadline is extended by written agreement between the parties, and a seller whose own paperwork caused the delay has little standing to refuse. What removes that leverage is silence: a buyer who lets the date pass without a signed extension is the party in default, whatever the underlying cause. Ask for the extension in writing the week the problem surfaces, not the week the deadline falls.
- Insider tip: put the extension mechanism into the compromesso itself, so a documented seller-side delay extends the date automatically rather than by negotiation
- Ask the notary for a written list of outstanding items after the first search round, and treat each as a dated task
- Where the fix belongs to the seller, price it: a €12,000 regularisation is a €12,000 discount or a €12,000 escrow retention, not a favour
Which buyer scenarios change the sequence?
Three situations rearrange the chain rather than lengthening it.
Buying off-plan. The compromesso is signed years before the deed, so registration under article 2645-bis stops being optional. The developer’s guarantee and the staged payment schedule replace the single balance transfer, and the mortgage is drawn at completion rather than at contract.
Buying at auction. There is no compromesso and no negotiation. The deposit accompanies the bid, the balance falls due within a fixed window of the award, and the mortgage has to be arranged before bidding rather than after. Our auction guide covers the timetable, which is unforgiving in a way the private-treaty sequence is not.
Buying remotely. The procura speciale is drafted, signed abroad before a local notary, apostilled and translated, which takes 2 to 4 weeks in Hague Convention countries and 4 to 8 where consular legalisation applies. That work has to finish before the deed date, and it is the one item on the critical path that sits entirely in the buyer’s own country.
For the legal ground rules that apply before any of this begins, including who may buy at all, start with buying property in Italy as a foreigner. For what the whole sequence costs, the cost breakdown itemises the 10% to 15% stack that sits above the price.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sixty to 120 days from an accepted proposta to the rogito, and the spread is set by financing rather than by paperwork. A cash purchase with clean documents closes in 6 to 8 weeks because the only fixed waits are the notary's searches. A mortgage adds the bank's perizia and credit decision, which run 6 to 10 weeks on their own and start only once the compromesso exists, so a financed purchase that looks like 90 days on paper becomes 120 when the valuation is booked late.
Three things, and each one removes a week from the critical path later. Obtain the codice fiscale, which every later document requires. Open an Italian current account, which most banks will not do without the codice fiscale. Get a mortgage agreement in principle if financing, because the bank's document list for a non-resident is longer than the domestic one and assembling it after an accepted offer is where deposits get put at risk.
Once the seller signs it, yes. The proposta irrevocabile binds the buyer for the stated period and becomes a contract the moment acceptance is communicated, which is why the suspensive conditions have to be written into it rather than negotiated afterwards. Withdrawing after acceptance forfeits the deposit attached to it, and in some cases exposes the buyer to a claim for the difference on a later resale.
Ten to 20% of the price, held as caparra confirmatoria, which means the seller keeps it if the buyer walks and owes double if the seller does. Registration of the compromesso under article 2645-bis is the protection that matters for off-plan and long gaps, because it gives the buyer priority over later mortgages and claims on the same property. Registration costs a few hundred euros and is skipped on most resale deals.
The notary's document requests. The notaio orders the searches and asks the seller for the planning and cadastral file, and any gap there stops the clock: missing conformity, an unregistered veranda, an old heir who never signed. The buyer does not control this step and cannot compress it, which is why the compromesso date should be set from the state of the seller's paperwork rather than from the buyer's travel plans.
For the rogito, someone does. Either the buyer attends the notary in person, or a procura speciale authorises a named representative to sign for a single identified property at a capped price. The procura is drafted in Italian, signed before a notary in the buyer's own country and legalised with an apostille, which takes 2 to 4 weeks in Hague Convention states and longer where consular legalisation applies.
In three tranches with different rules. A small deposit accompanies the proposta and is often held by the agency. The caparra follows at the compromesso. The balance arrives at the rogito, and since 2007 it moves through traceable channels the notary records in the deed, with most notaries now using the conto dedicato escrow account. Sending the balance early, direct to a seller, removes the protection that makes the rest of the sequence safe.
Utilities transfer, the cadastral registration completes, and the ownership change reaches the comune for IMU purposes. Two deadlines start on deed day: 18 months to register residence if prima casa relief was claimed, and 30 days to file the contract with the tax office if the property is let. Neither is administered by the notary, and both are missed often enough to appear in our own file reviews.
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