Nobody gives you a property purchase checklist.
When you buy a property in another country, you don’t even know what to ask. You assume that if you have a lawyer, a notary, and a real estate agent (and maybe also an architect) that they are on your side and will proactively walk you through the process. But too often, they are people who just want to make their money, and feel no pressure or interest in giving you information you don’t specifically ask for.
This “Dream Team” has a gap that is filled by what Italy calls a “geometra” (jay-OH-meht-rah). The closest translation might be “surveyor.” This is the person who will make sure that the property matches what you are being sold, and checks if anything is illegal or was built or installed without a permit.
Here’s how things often work:
- The notary checks the ownership history and declarations, but not compliance verification.
- The lawyer focuses on contracts and your general legal protection, but not permit audits.
- The architect focuses on design and construction, not municipal permit research.
- The real estate agent cares about making the purchase, not technical due diligence.
Don’t buy without a geometra!
The geometra actually reviews permits, cadastral (zoning) conformity, unauthorized work, boundary lines, energy certification, and more. They don’t cover structural, electrical, or plumbing. You would need those professionals to inspect those.
Make sure the geometra does the work before you sign any contract or compromesso. The compromesso is a preliminary contract that establishes the obligation to sell (for the seller) and to buy (for the buyer) under agreed conditions. Transfer of ownership does not occur at this stage; that happens at the rogito.
Under Italian law, the preliminary contract is a real contract, not a non-binding letter of intent. Once signed by both parties, it creates a legal obligation on the seller and the buyer to complete the sale at agreed terms. By the time the final deed is signed, the preliminary contract has already locked in most of the legal and commercial structure of the deal.
Due diligence
You don’t want to sign that and then find out that your property has illegal modifications or structures, fake agricultural plans, illegal septic systems, carports, or outbuildings. Learn first!
The Italian system places due diligence burden almost entirely on the buyer. There is no title insurance equivalent for building compliance in Italy. A notary might check that the seller has the right to sell the property, but won’t tell you what Zone E means, or that the house was built illegally. The geometra is the person who goes to the comune (town hall) and pulls every document.
Avoid conflicts of interest.
Do not use the seller’s geometra or real estate agent. You might even want to avoid another real estate agent from the seller’s agency (conflict of interest, double dipping). And you might want to avoid any geometra recommended by the seller’s agent. You want someone truly on your side, telling you the whole truth.
Cautionary tale:
We know people currently battling this in 2026, months after they moved to Italy. They bought beautiful land and a lovely house only to later learn that the previous owner put in a strange plan to semi-create a farm with basically a toolshed, and then built a lavish home, septic system, etc. How did he get away with it? His uncle worked in the town hall, and gave him the green light. Now the comune is asking why that plan hasn’t been worked on.
These people thought they did everything right. They assumed that their real estate agent, architect, lawyer, and notary would have proactively told them if the property came with warnings or problems. And this can happen to anybody. When you don’t know the system, you don’t know which questions to ask, or to whom to ask them!
Proactively work with a geometra before you sign anything! You might learn something that cancels the sale. Better to know that earlier.