8569 Diritto di Prelazione

I know that the possibilities to exercise your right to prelazione have been much reduced, but, (unless it varies region to region) as far as I know the right still remains if you are a coltivatore diretto or affittuario.

[quote=chrisnotton;80383]Ciao e tutti

Diritto di Prelazione - Pre-emption right. Agricultural land

My notaio informs me that within the last few months these rights have been removed from the statute books. She is normally extremely on-the-ball with every particle of Italian law.

Has anyone else heard this?

Pip pip[/quote]

Does anyone have any precise information about this at this stage. according to the official Notaio web site:
- For the sale of agricultural land, if the neighbours or those dwelling on the land are farmers, they must be advised of the intention to sell and only if they decline to purchase it may it be sold to an outsider on the same conditions that were communicated;

In this case, I understand that it is the responsibility of the Vendor to offer the property. What happens if they have not done this? Does the Notaio have to get some sort of confirmation that this has been done? What happens if the land offered is without any buildings and rather small. does the same law still apply? In this context, if one has a property of which approx. 25% is comprised of agricultural land, is it advisable to place a high sales price on the section that is agricultural in order to avoid the risk of it being bought by farmers? In our case, it is part of the back yard and could not be of any real use to a farmer due to shape, size and access, but it would be a terrible pity if it was grabbed just for the heck of it. Thanks for any info.

effectively it does not depend on the size of the land rather its designation...

however if it surrounds a house then and its small it will be a garden not a field...

the notary should have a list of all neighbouring lots and the ownership of those lots and will grill the agent who is conducting the sale about who and who has not been contacted and making sure that it has all been recorded properly...

but yes all letters should be sent out...generally by the agent for the vendors and in good time before the final act replies should have been had and paperwork ready in that sense... to present to the notary as proof

basically the agent will know the sale cannot proceed if everyone that is relevant has not been contacted and their rescinding of any rights noted and signed

Thank you. There is no agent involved. We are buying from a private person, who is also not Italian and I think has had the place for sale for at least two years. The vendor does not speak Italian and seems to be completely removed from the local situation. So far the notaio has not asked for any such paper work, however, I am trying to anticipate any hold ups etc. So I suppose I can assume that the law hasn't changed as expressed by chrisnotton?

the notary should have paerwork for all the surrounding properties and their ownership... seems to me the simple thing to do in your case would just be to ask...if thats poss... like you say...best to anticipate...

solutions if there is anyone with rights would be to assign a high value to the land to make it unattractive to any neighbours... am sure the notary will advise on this..

as regards changes...without getting into details ...we have a house sale going through at the moment with lots of land and specialist italian anglo lawyers involved... they are making sure that all people with rights have signed to say they are not interested so without saying that there is no specific change of rules... have not heard this in any case... i would say that they would have had knowledge of it... in fact our notary on this sale has just asked for the letters that we supplied before to be re drawn as the sale hit problems and these are now a bit out of date....

[quote=simone-non-martini;86078]Thank you. There is no agent involved. We are buying from a private person, who is also not Italian and I think has had the place for sale for at least two years. The vendor does not speak Italian and seems to be completely removed from the local situation. So far the notaio has not asked for any such paper work, however, I am trying to anticipate any hold ups etc. So I suppose I can assume that the law hasn't changed as expressed by chrisnotton?[/quote]

Ciao Simone,

I bought both agricultural & edificable land via private sale. Another landowner (farmer) surrounds me on three sides. My notary told me that the Diritto di Prelazione had been repealed and did not apply to my purchase of 2 ha. I did not need to officially inform any nearby landholders. I have heard that others also purchasing nearby are not needing to check the Diritto di Prelazione either. There have been further changes introduced in February this year. I think these are mainly about planning eligability & applying for farming status.

You need to ask a notary as to whether the diritto applies to your land or not. You will need to ask about other diritti anyway, access, uso frutto etc. There may also be a fine involved (to the vendor) if the seller has owned the land for less than five years. These are all things you will need to get checked. :v_SPIN:

Pip pip

I agree that all of this "research" and discussions with the Notaio is absolutely necessary and costs money but do wonder if it is perhaps best to get a trustworthy Geometra to do all the work for you. We purchased two small pieces of agricultural land on our borders last year. Both the price of the land land and the Geometra's fee were high but we are now secure that everything has been done correctly. Other English friends have discovered that they infact are not owners of land they thought they had bought (some of it was supposedly swapped) and as it's local election time, nothing can be done until the Comune is back in action following the election. Other friends have now had a bit of a surprise when wanting to sell after 10 years, it is never simple in Italia!

Thanks for the advice. The land is part of a symetrical garden all balanced very nicely with the proportions of the house - it is not a field. it looks as if it has been that way since a long time according to the trees, bushes and fence. However, there is a very large field running adjacent to and behind the garden. I expect that is the only possible neighbour who could be approached. We will try to work it out with the notary -- only it is rather complicated with our limited Italian over the phone or in emails. Anyway...shall give it a go.

One thing that still is not clear with regard to the pre-emption rights : If the vendor fails to contact the neighbour who has a possible pre-emption right for agricultural land that is being sold as part of a garden attached to a house, how are they (the farmer neighbour) then informed about the sale? Are they sent official notification by the commune or elsewhere once the sale has gone through the final stage?

I think the answer is no; they have to find out for themselves. But their right to buy can be excercised retrospectively.

[quote=simone-non-martini;86707]One thing that still is not clear with regard to the pre-emption rights : If the vendor fails to contact the neighbour who has a possible pre-emption right for agricultural land that is being sold as part of a garden attached to a house, how are they (the farmer neighbour) then informed about the sale? Are they sent official notification by the commune or elsewhere once the sale has gone through the final stage?[/quote]

someone i know had their house purchase annulled because the neighbour had not received a registered letter advising of the proposed sale,exerted his rights and blew out the sale.

Well actually I find it is a good law in its function to protect local farmers. I have no problem with that at all and indeed would hope to support it.

But, in your statement, are you saying that the neighbour who "exerted his rights" did so merely to destroy the sale -- so out of revenge? Or was it because they were genuinely interested in acquiring the land? Was it a farm-house build directly on agricultural land?

In our case, the villa and garden were one unit all zoned as urban. However, someone in recent years had the rear of the yard re-zoned as agricultural for tax purposes.

So you wont be moving to Italy then? :veryconfused:

Hate to be a know-all but if you really should have a solicitor representing your interests and then you wont even have to know the ins and outs and he/she will do it all for you. If you are not fluent in Italian I recommend an Italian solicitor working in the UK. The downside will probably be the fees which should be costed out before you appoint - might be worth it for peace of mind tho'.

[quote=elliven;86956]Hate to be a know-all but if you really should have a solicitor representing your interests and then you wont even have to know the ins and outs and he/she will do it all for you. If you are not fluent in Italian I recommend an Italian solicitor working in the UK.[/quote]
Great idea... [I]in theory[/I].

But no one should ever assume that agreeing to hand over a couple thousand quid to a lawyer means they won't have to worry (or think) about anything. For that matter, it's always foolish to assume that a lawyer one hires will do anything at all positive for you.

I paid a tidy sum to an Italian lawyer working for a London-based law firm and there was plenty of time to sort out pre-emption issues for my house purchase. But as the day of the final act approached with no sign of those issues being dealt with, I had to start pestering the lawyer to make sure the agent had done what he'd promised. He hadn't. Then, when he did, the lawyer had the cheek to say the agent was solely to blame for the matter not being sorted out sooner and to claim credit for his foresight in dealing with it before the day of the rogito.

I'd still advise anyone who's not very familiar with the Italian house purchase process and who doesn't speak Italian to a reasonable level to hire a lawyer if they're spending what they consider to be a lot of money on a house. But I'd also advise them to spend time poking around this site, talking to people who have been through the process and reading books on the subject so that they know what questions to ask the lawyer and when they should start to pester them and make them earn their fee.

Al

The right of prelazione is basically simple. If you want to sell land and you have a neighbour who owns contiguous land with yours, and the neighbour is a registered farmer or rents the farm he has to be offered first refusal on the land at the price that it is being sold for. You cannot just buy the land if the house is included in the sale. it is all or nothing. If he says no, thats it. No recourse to law. If he says he wants to buy at the price requested or agreed, he has first choice. You dont need a solicitor. the easiest way to deal with it is get the neighbour to come the signing of the act and he waives his right in front of the notaio. You buy him a drink and all are happy.