What should you check before making an offer?
It is best to do your checks before the offer: a proposta accepted by the seller can bind you, and before it you can still ask for documents or add conditions. The notary can be involved before the final deed too. Check the building titles, whether the floor plan matches, the energy certificate, mortgages and the condominium, constraints and the natural hazards of the area.
Why before the offer
A proposta d’acquisto accepted by the seller can become a binding agreement, and the offer often comes with a deposit, of an amount the parties agree. What happens to the deposit depends on the agreement, its conditions and who defaults: with a caparra confirmatoria, if the party that received it defaults, the other may withdraw and demand double, or ask for performance or termination with damages (art. 1385 of the Civil Code). Notaries advise involving the notary early, not only at the final deed.
A purchase involves other steps too, such as the difference between offer, preliminary contract and deed and who provides which information on a property. What a dossier on an address costs is on the Dossier Immobile pricing page. You can work out the taxes you would pay with the free purchase tax calculator.
The house: which titles and documents?
- The building titles (licences, permits, CILA and SCIA) and any amnesties (condoni): ask the seller for copies, or a report on the stato legittimo by a technician.
- The cadastral floor plan: since 1 July 2010 the deed must contain, on pain of nullity, the cadastral data, the reference to the filed floor plans and the declaration that they match the actual state, which a technician’s statement may replace (art. 29(1-bis) L. 52/1985); not every small difference amounts to nullity.
- The certificate of fitness for use and the APE: the energy performance certificate must be made available when negotiations start (art. 6 D.Lgs. 192/2005).
Rights: what burdens the house?
- Mortgages and seizures: you see them with a mortgage register search at the Agenzia delle Entrate.
- The condominium: ordinary and extraordinary costs already decided, debts of the seller, the rules.
- The cadastral visura: the Agenzia delle Entrate’s online consultation is free, also for properties of other holders, with SPID, CIE or CNS; you need the sheet and parcel number. Floor plans are reserved to those entitled, and the mortgage register search is a separate service.
The place: what is around it?
- Landslides and floods: ISPRA’s national mosaic (IdroGEO) for the address’s location, indicative if estimated from neighbouring house numbers.
- The seismic zone of the municipality (Civil Protection).
- Contaminated sites nearby (ISPRA, MOSAICO) and protected areas (Natura 2000).
- Landscape or heritage constraints, which can affect works and procedures.
- The distances between buildings in the general rules.
What you cannot do yourself
Access to the Comune’s building archive requires a direct, concrete and current interest (art. 22 L. 241/1990): a delegation from the seller is often useful in practice, but the seller’s consent is not a general legal requirement. The answer can take about thirty days: that is why it pays to ask the seller for the documents early, or to put a condition in the offer that requires them.
The dossier is an automatic report: it is not written or checked by a registered professional (surveyor, architect, engineer, lawyer) and does not replace checks by a qualified technician or the Comune.
What Dossier Immobile does
For the chosen location the dossier lists the parcel, the data found in the maps on natural hazards and the environment, general information on what the law says about the deed and the documents to ask for, with the source and date of every item. The preview is free.
Can I withdraw the offer?
Until the seller accepts it, it depends on how it is worded: many offers are irrevocable for a set period. After acceptance the wording, the conditions and the parties' conduct count: that is why checks are best done before the offer or made a condition in it.
Doesn’t the notary check everything?
The notary carries out legal and register checks. A technical comparison of the building’s actual state with its building titles requires a separate examination by a qualified technician. The notary can also be involved before the offer.
Does the dossier replace a technician?
No. The dossier brings the public registers together; the stato legittimo of the house is checked by a qualified technician on the Comune’s records.
Sources
- Filodiritto: what to ask before an offer
- Cose di Casa: down payment or deposit
- Civil Code, art. 1385 (confirmatory deposit)
- D.Lgs. 192/2005, art. 6 (APE)
- Agenzia delle Entrate: the cadastral visura (2025 guide)
- Edilizia.com: access to records
- LavoriPubblici: checks before buying
Dossier Immobile is a private service by SRI Group BV (VAT BE1037052239), not connected to any public authority: it brings together public data, with the source and date of every item.
Updated on