Before you buy
In Italy the technical check belongs before the compromesso, not after it.
I compare the house you are about to buy with the documents that are supposed to describe it: the planning file held by the comune, the plan lodged at the Catasto, and the building as it actually stands. You receive a written report, with its limits stated on the first page.
What it is
What a pre-purchase technical check actually is
A pre-purchase technical check tests whether an Italian property matches the documents that describe it: the building permits held in the archive of the comune, the floor plan lodged at the Catasto, and the physical state of the building today. I carry it out myself — Ivan Nozzi, an Ingegnere, that is an engineer registered with the Ordine degli Ingegneri della Provincia di Chieti (no. 2489), practising from Torrevecchia Teatina (CH) in Abruzzo.
The moment for it is before the compromesso, the preliminary contract, and ideally before a proposta d'acquisto — your written offer — has been accepted. Italian law treats an accepted offer as a binding contract. Once the deposit is paid, a discrepancy discovered later is no longer a reason not to buy; it is a renegotiation you enter from the weaker side.
The notary does not do this work, and it is the single most common misunderstanding among foreign buyers. An Italian notary checks title, mortgages, seizures and registrations, and records in the deed the planning and cadastral declarations that the seller makes on their own responsibility. The notary does not walk into the town hall to compare approved drawings with what was built, and does not measure rooms. Two different checks, both needed.
Unauthorised alterations in Italy are common and are almost never mentioned in the listing. In most cases an engineer is engaged only after signature, when the decision has already been made. Regularising afterwards costs money and time, and in some cases cannot be done at all. That is the whole argument of this page: the order in which things happen matters more than anything else.
Scope of the check
What I check
The check reconciles three sources that rarely agree with one another: the planning archive of the comune, the land registry, and the building measured on site. This is what is examined.
- The full planning history — licences, concessions, permessi di costruire, SCIA and CILA filings, amnesty applications, variations and agibilità — obtained from the comune through a formal access request under Law 241/1990.
- The cadastral plan compared against the built state, because the deed of sale must contain a declaration that the two agree, under art. 19 §14 of Decree-Law 78/2010.
- The internal layout, measured and overlaid on the approved drawings: walls moved or removed, doorways blocked up, bathrooms added, kitchens relocated, units merged or divided.
- Volumes and floor areas: extensions, added storeys, enclosed verandas, canopies, infilled porticos, mezzanines, converted basements, garages, and stone outbuildings in the garden.
- Ceiling heights, window-to-floor ratios and the habitability requirements for rooms actually used as bedrooms or bathrooms.
- Structural condition observable without demolition: crack patterns in masonry, deflection of floors, the state of exposed beams and columns, evidence of earlier repairs.
- Rising damp and water ingress, the condition of the roof covering, gutters and downpipes.
- The age and condition of the electrical, water and heating systems, and whether the conformity declarations required by Ministerial Decree 37/2008 exist.
- Agibilità: whether the certificate exists, which building permit it refers to, and whether it covers the property in its present configuration.
- Constraints affecting the plot: the zoning of the local plan, landscape and hydrogeological restrictions, PAI flood and landslide mapping, setback distances, and the seismic classification of the comune.
What you receive
The report, in five parts
The check ends in a signed written report, delivered as a PDF in five parts and set out in plain terms, so that a buyer who is not an engineer can follow every finding without specialist help.
- 1 — Documents examined
- An itemised list of everything I read, with the protocol number, date and issuing office of each document — and, in the same section, a statement of what the comune did not release and why.
- 2 — The building as found
- The property as it stands today: a measured survey, an as-built floor plan, dated photographs of the accessible areas, and a note of every space that could not be inspected.
- 3 — Comparison and discrepancies
- A graphic overlay of the as-built survey, the last effective building permit and the cadastral plan. Every discrepancy is described, marked on the drawing and quantified.
- 4 — Assessment of each issue
- For each discrepancy: whether it falls within the construction tolerances of art. 34-bis of Presidential Decree 380/2001, what procedure a regularisation would require, where the uncertainty lies, and what remains to be established.
- 5 — What to do before you sign
- The questions to put to the seller in writing, the documents to obtain before the compromesso, and the technical points to hand to your notary or lawyer.
Stated limits
What this check does not cover
The pre-purchase check carried out by Ivan Nozzi is a non-destructive investigation, confined to the accessible parts of the building and to the documents the comune actually holds and releases. I set these limits out before the engagement rather than after it, because the Italian engineers' code of conduct (art. 4.4) forbids certifying anything that has not been verified.
I do not open up walls, lift floors, excavate foundations or take down suspended ceilings. What is concealed stays uninspected, and the report says so precisely instead of passing over it.
The outcome depends on municipal archives. Some files are incomplete, some cannot be traced, some take weeks to reach me. Access to the file requires a qualified interest: in practice this almost always means a written authorisation from the current owner, which must be requested from the seller before work starts. If that authorisation does not come, the check stays partial and I tell you so at once.
This is not a valuation. I do not put a price on the property and I express no view on whether the purchase is a good deal.
This is not a legal opinion. The preliminary contract, the deposit, conditions precedent, inherited title and questions of ownership belong to your notary and your lawyer.
I do not issue the energy performance certificate: in Italy the APE is issued by an accredited certifier entered on the regional register. What I do is check whether one is present among the documents and whether it is consistent with the building I inspected. In the same way, where a building is listed, restoration design is reserved by law to an architect, and I work alongside one.
I do not guarantee that a property is free of irregularities, and no honest engineer can. What you receive is a reasoned assessment of what the documents obtained and the inspection show, with an explicit statement of what remains open.
How it runs
The sequence, and how long each stage takes
The check runs in seven stages. The total elapsed time is governed almost entirely by the municipal technical office, not by me.
| Stage | What happens | Who is involved | Indicative duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| First contact | You send the address, the cadastral references and whatever you already hold: the listing, plans, land registry extracts. | You and I | 1–2 working days |
| Engagement and authorisation | I set out scope, limits and fee in writing. The seller is asked for written authorisation to access the planning file. | You, I, the seller | 2–3 working days |
| Access to the planning file | I file the request at the comune, follow it through and collect the archive file. | Municipal technical office | 10–30 working days |
| Land registry | I obtain the historic extract, the cadastral plan and the block plan. | Me | 1–2 working days |
| Site inspection | Measured survey, photographic record, visual inspection of structure, roof and services. | Me, with access arranged | 2–4 hours on site |
| Writing up | Overlay of the sources, assessment of each discrepancy, drafting of the report. | Me | 3–5 working days |
| Delivery and debrief | You receive the PDF and we go through it point by point, in person or by video call. | You and I | about 1 hour |
Durations are indicative and depend on the municipal office. If you are already under an offer with a deadline, say so at first contact: in some cases the inspection can be brought forward and the documentary part closed afterwards, with the report stating in writing that the assessment is provisional.
Buying from abroad
If you are buying from another country or another region
A buyer who lives outside Italy can have the entire check carried out without attending: the inspection needs only keys or an agent to open the property, and everything else is handled in writing and by video call.
During the inspection I record dated photographs and a continuous walk-through video of every room, so the report does not ask you to take my word for the state of the building — it lets you look. The PDF is sent to you, and we then go through it together on a video call, section by section, with time for questions.
I work in Italian, but you are welcome to write to me in English or German too: enquiries in those languages are read and answered. The report, like the quote and the engagement letter, is drawn up in Italian, the language that carries legal effect here. The site visit and our call are held in Italian: you can bring someone to interpret, or I can suggest someone locally. If you are working with an estate agent, I deal with them only on your written instruction: the engagement is yours, the report is addressed to you, and I do not report to the agent on your behalf.
If you have already signed an offer, tell me the expiry date and the date set for the compromesso at the first email. Those two dates determine what can realistically be verified in time.
Questions
What buyers ask before instructing me
The cadastral plan does not match the house. What does that mean?
If the cadastral plan does not match the building, the deed cannot carry the declaration of conformity required by art. 19 §14 of Decree-Law 78/2010, and the notary may decline to complete. Updating the cadastral record is usually possible and relatively quick. The real question is different: whether the mismatch is only a registry error, or the trace of work the comune never authorised. Those are two separate problems with very different costs.
Can this be done after I have signed the proposta?
Yes, but you lose your leverage. An accepted offer is already binding and the deposit is already paid, so a discrepancy found afterwards no longer decides whether you buy — it becomes a request for a discount or an attempt to withdraw. If the offer is signed, the useful step is to build a condition precedent into the preliminary contract, tied to the outcome of the check, and that must be agreed before the compromesso.
Does the notary not check this already?
The notary checks ownership, mortgages, seizures and registrations, and records the planning and cadastral declarations that the seller makes under their own responsibility. The notary does not go to the town hall to compare approved drawings with what was built, and does not measure rooms. That check is about the deed and the registers; mine is about the physical building. They are complementary, not alternatives, and a careful purchase needs both.
How long does access to the planning file take?
Law 241/1990 gives the authority up to thirty days to respond to an access request. Smaller comuni in inland Abruzzo often answer sooner, larger ones tend to use the full period, and collecting and reading the file adds to that. This is why the check should start when a property first becomes serious to you, not in the week before signature.
What happens if an irregularity is found?
The report describes it, marks it on the drawing and classifies it: a deviation falling within the construction tolerances of art. 34-bis of Presidential Decree 380/2001, a discrepancy for which a regularisation procedure can be contemplated, or work that on the documents available does not appear capable of being regularised. The decision is then yours: walk away, renegotiate the price, or require the seller to regularise at their expense before completion. I do not promise an outcome; I give you the reasoning behind the assessment.
Can you attend the compromesso?
Yes. I can attend the signing of the preliminary contract, in person or by video call, to explain the technical content of the report and read through the clauses dealing with planning and cadastral conformity with you. I do not draft the contract and I do not give legal advice — that is the work of the notary and your lawyer. My role is to make sure you do not sign without understanding the technical position.
Next step
Send me the property before you send the seller your offer.
Give me the address, the cadastral references and the stage you have reached. I reply with what can be verified, how long it will take and what it will cost — in writing, before anything starts.