3017 Reciprocity

In the past days there was some confusion about the possibility for Australian citizens to purchase an immovable proprerty in Italy.
I made a brief search and I think it can be of general interest to know what I found.

Primary you have to consider that the Italian legislation in this field is regulated by the principle of [B]reciprocity[/B]:

a foreign citizen is allowed to purchase a property in Italy, if an Italian citizen is allowed to do the same in the foreign country where the purchaser is coming from.

It is the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministero degli Affari Esteri) that periodically verifies the reciprocity between Italy and other countries.
Notaries are not allowed to draft contracts where's involved a foreign citizen coming from a "no reciprocity" country.

Having this in mind, the Ministero degli Esteri has clarified that it is not necessary for the notaries to check the reciprocity:

- if the foreign citizen is an EU citizen

- if he's a "resident alien" in Italy

- if, between Italy and the foreign country, there's a treaty allowing mutually the requested activities (purchases, companies etc.).

This last specification leads us to Australia and Italy.
Between the two countries there is a treaty called "Migration and Settlement Agreement" signed in Camberra (26th September 1967).

This treaty is still in force and it's fully valid in Italy and Australia.
Article 28 of the "agreement" is about purchases.
Here's the text
[CENTER][/CENTER]Article 28

[I]Purchase and possession of property and goods

The citizens of each country and the juridical persons incorporated in each country shall have within the other country the same legal capacities as citizens of that other country and juridical persons incorporated in that other country:

(a) to acquire, whether by purchase or otherwise,

(b) to hold and enjoy, and

(c) to dispose of, whether by sale, gift, will or otherwise,

movable and immovable property, including, in particular, stocks, bonds, shares and rights in action. Limitations shall not be applied to the exercise of these capacities except:

(i) for reasons of national interest or in accordance with the laws in force in each country, or

(ii) by the registration requirements that, under the law of a particular State or Territory of Australia, must be complied with by juridical persons incorporated outside that State or Territory.

The Government of each country shall accord to the citizens of the other country and to juridical persons incorporated in that other country treatment equal to that accorded to its own citizens and juridical persons incorporated in its own country in matters of rental of houses, buildings, premises and lands for commercial, industrial or agricultural purposes, except so far as limitations may still exist on leases of crown lands to aliens."[/I]

The above mentioned agreement, according to Ministero degli Esteri (and according to general legal principles too), makes fully operating the reciprocity between Italy and Australia.

This has been explained several times and finally in December 2005, with a communication sent to the Consiglio Nazionale del Notariato (Italian National Council of Notaries).
Here's the text:
[I]
“ … questo servizio ha provveduto a verificare l’esistenza della piena capacità giuridica in materia di compravendite immobiliari da parte dei cittadini australiani non residenti in Italia, in forza dell’articolo 28 dell’Accordo bilaterale di emigrazione ed investimento concluso tra Italia ed Australia a Canberra il 26 settembre 1967 ed entrato in vigore l’otto luglio 1971”.[/I]
Shortly translated it means:

This service (i.e. Ministero degli Esteri) has verified [I]the existence of full juridical capacity in real estate purchases of the Australian citizens not residing in Italy,[/I] in force of the article 28 of the bilateral Agreement on migration and settlement signed in Camberra on 26th of September 1967.

You can have a confirm of it at the web site of Ministero degli Esteri, where are listed and showed all the treaties signed by Italy, that are still in force presently and where are specifically indicated the countries that are not respecting reciprocity.
Australia is not one of these countries and the site gives as operating the treaty we're talking about.
For a very short period (2001-2005) it seemed that there was no more reciprocity because of some australian laws limiting the foreigneres' purchases, but now it's clear that these laws do not apply to italians thanks to the mentioned "Agreement".

Since I know you're all internet maniacs, here are some useful links:

[url]www.esteri.it[/url] the web site of Ministero degli Esteri

[url]www.esteri.it/eng/4_29_73_306_259.asp[/url]
the section of that site where are listed the treaties and the reciprocity situation among the different countries

[url]www.notariato.it[/url]
- it is the site of the Italian notaries, with an English version too and a [B]very[/B] interesting section dedicated to foreigners:
[url]http://www.notariato.it/eng/notaio/listing.aspx?lml_language_id=0&trs_id=497000[/url]
[B]if people could read this section [B]before[/B] starting the purchasing process, many doubts would be deleted, many questions would be unnecessary and a lot of money would be saved.[/B]