Domenico and his sister accepted our verbal offer and we asked Martina to draft a formal letter of offer. Exciting and a little bit scary!
The purchase of a property in Italy has the following main stages:
- La proposta: a formal proposal to purchase that is signed by both the sellers and buyers. A small deposit is paid and both parties commit to the transaction. The seller takes the property off the market.
- Il compromesso: equivalent to exchange of contracts in the UK. This takes place at the offices of a notary and is accompanied by a more substantial deposit.
- Il rogito: equivalent to completion in the UK. Again this takes place at the notary’s office and the balance of the purchase price is paid.
The plan was to sign the proposta when we got back to the UK and then return to Italy for the compromesso in November 2020. From that point we would be able to stay in the house and start planning what to do with it. The rogito was scheduled to be completed by the end of September 2021 with the expectation that we would complete in July.
We signed four copies of the proposta in the UK on 2 October and sent them to Martina by post and email. Domenico and his sister signed on 16 October and we paid the deposit direct to Domenico.