Buying land at an Italian court auction: what to read, what to pay, what survives the sale

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This guide uses one real lot to walk through the process. The Court of Reggio Emilia (Tribunale di Reggio Emilia) set 3 November 2026 as the sale date, in enforcement proceedings no. 3/2012, for a single lot made of two residential building plots on Via Andreoli in Reggiolo, inside a planned development zone called PP6 Via Mozart. Starting price €129,330; minimum valid bid €97,000. The outcome will appear on the PVP; here the lot serves as a worked case. An earlier listing for the same development, about two years old, said the roads, pavements, parking and street lighting were still being built. Check every figure here against the official notice and valuation on pvp.giustizia.it before you decide anything.

Treat this as a first screen, not legal advice. If you are about to bid on a specific lot, hire an Italian lawyer who handles auctions in that court.

Before you can bid at all: the foreigner’s set-up

Italian residents can skip this section. You cannot, and it takes longer than the bidding window often allows.

• Codice fiscale. You need an Italian tax code to file a bid, to pay the deposit from an identifiable account and to receive the transfer decree. Embassies and the Agenzia delle Entrate issue it; our guide on the codice fiscale for foreign buyers covers how.
• Online filing. Most courts now run auctions online (vendita telematica). Filing an online bid requires tools an Italian professional has by default and a foreigner usually does not, such as a certified email address (PEC) or a qualified digital signature. Many foreign bidders file through a lawyer for this reason alone.
• A lawyer bidding for you. A lawyer can bid on your behalf, with a power of attorney, and Italian procedure also lets a lawyer bid "for a person to be named" and disclose the buyer afterwards. If you sign the power of attorney abroad, it will need a notary and an apostille, and probably a sworn translation; allow two to three weeks.
• Deposit transfer timing. The deposit must be credited to the procedure’s account by the deadline. An international transfer sent two days before may arrive late, and a late deposit makes the bid invalid.
• Non-EU citizens. Italy allows foreigners to buy property on condition of reciprocity with their home country, with exceptions for EU citizens and lawful residents. Check this before spending on a lawyer; the codice fiscale guide above links to the official reciprocity lists.

Where the documents are

Every judicial sale of real estate must be published on the Ministry of Justice’s Public Sales Portal (Portale delle Vendite Pubbliche, pvp.giustizia.it). Authorised portals (IVG, Astegiudiziarie, Astalegale) republish the same notices, but the PVP version is the reference.

Download three documents for each lot:

Two people run the sale. The delegated professional (professionista delegato, usually a notary, lawyer or accountant) answers questions about the procedure. The court custodian (custode giudiziario) shows you the land. Ask for the visit: on a building plot you only see on site whether the boundaries are marked, whether a neighbour’s gate closes the access, or whether the developer left a heap of rubble.

The numbers on the Reggiolo lot

Article 571 of the Code of Civil Procedure (c.p.c.) makes a bid invalid if it is "more than a quarter below" the price set by the court, or if the deposit is less than one tenth of the price offered. A filed bid cannot be withdrawn.

• Starting price: €129,330
• Minimum valid bid: €129,330 × 0.75 = €96,997.50, rounded in the notice to €97,000
• Deposit on a €97,000 bid: €9,700
• Balance after the award: €87,300, plus taxes and costs

A single bid at the minimum does not guarantee you the land. Under art. 572 c.p.c. the judge may refuse to sell below the starting price if a higher price seems realistically obtainable at a new auction, or if a creditor has asked to be assigned the property. With several bids, the delegate runs a contest from the highest offer.

Reading the valuation as a land buyer

Valuations of building land are long. These are the points that decide whether to bid.

How old is it, and which plan does it cite? Proceedings from 2012 may rest on a valuation written years ago under a planning instrument that has since been replaced. Emilia-Romagna’s regional planning law (L.R. 24/2017) is moving municipalities from the old PSC/RUE plans to a new general plan (Piano Urbanistico Generale, PUG). Ask the municipality what the plan in force today says for those land parcels.

Is there a current zoning certificate? The certificato di destinazione urbanistica (CDU) is valid for one year (art. 30 D.P.R. 380/2001). A CDU attached to an old valuation describes the past. Our CDU guide explains how to request a new one.

Is the plot inside a development plan with a signed agreement? This is the Reggiolo question, and it gets its own section below.

How much floor area can be built on this plot? You want the floor area or volume assigned to the plot by the development plan, not the generic index for the zone.

Is the land occupied? A farmer on a lease, the developer’s storage yard, a fence shared with the next lots.

How was the starting price reached? The valuation usually says whether, and by how much, the value was cut because the buyer gets no warranty. Knowing the discount already built in tells you how much margin is real.

Unfinished infrastructure: the risk that does not show in the price

Italian development agreements (convenzioni di lottizzazione) oblige the developer to build roads, drains and lighting and hand them to the municipality. Many agreements also say that no building permit will be issued for an individual plot until the works in front of it are completed and accepted.

When the developer goes bust halfway, the plots go to auction with the works unfinished. A case decided by the Veneto Regional Administrative Court (TAR Veneto, sez. II, judgment no. 1926 of 7 October 2026) shows what that looks like. The developer was declared bankrupt by the Court of Belluno in October 2008; the basic infrastructure stopped half-built and was never inspected and accepted (collaudo). The agreement said that, after acceptance, the land under the works would pass to the municipality free of charge: 1,079 m² for the roads alone. One of the lots later offered in the Belluno court sales, parcel 516 (240 m²), was land the plan reserved for infrastructure and that the developer was supposed to hand over; in 2015 the municipality wrote to the enforcement judge and the delegate asking for it. A buyer who saw "240 m² of land" in the listing would have been bidding on a strip of future road. Whether those obligations pass to an auction buyer through the court’s transfer decree depends on the agreement and on whether it was registered.

So for Reggiolo, before bidding, put these questions in writing to the municipal planning office (ufficio tecnico): Is the PP6 agreement still in force? Have the works been inspected and accepted (collaudo)? Did the developer post a bank guarantee (fideiussione) the municipality can call on? Would a building permit be issued on plot 9 or 10 today?

What the transfer decree clears

When you have paid, the judge signs the transfer decree (decreto di trasferimento). Under art. 586 c.p.c. it orders the deletion of the attachment (pignoramento) and of the mortgages, including those registered after the attachment. In judgment no. 151/2026 the Constitutional Court left this rule in place while asking Parliament to address lesser property rights.

What stays with the land:

• easements and other third-party rights that the creditors could not override;
• legal and planning constraints: road and cemetery buffers, landscape protection, hydrogeological and flood-risk zones;
• the development agreement’s obligations, as above;
• an agricultural lease that is enforceable against the procedure.

The decree also works as an eviction order. If the land is occupied, the custodian enforces the release order under art. 560 c.p.c.; you do not need to start your own enforcement case.

No warranty, and very little room to complain

In a forced sale there is no warranty for defects (art. 2922 of the Civil Code). The Court of Cassation reads this widely (order no. 14165/2016). The one exception is aliud pro alio: being sold something essentially different from what was advertised, such as "building land" that was never buildable.

If the plot turns out smaller than stated, you cannot ask for a price reduction (Cass. 22854/2020). The only remedy is to challenge the sale itself through an objection to enforcement acts (art. 617 c.p.c.), within short deadlines. On a development plot, where the plan’s plot area and the land registry area rarely match, have a surveyor overlay the two before you bid.

Tax: auction price, but which rate?

For forced sales, registration tax is charged on the auction price, not on market value (art. 44 D.P.R. 131/1986), and the tax office cannot adjust it upwards (Cass. 25526/2018; Cass. 14664/2025). Mortgage and cadastral taxes are also based on the price (Agenzia delle Entrate circular 8/E/2015). The "price-value" rule that lets some buyers pay on the cadastral value applies only to homes bought by individuals, not to land.

The rate depends on who the debtor is.

That is a €13,110 difference on the same plot. A housing development in proceedings since 2012 suggests a business debtor, but the notice states the tax regime and you should read it there, not guess.

A foreign company bidding instead of a private person does not change these rates. It may change what VAT the company can recover, which is a question for an Italian accountant.

Add transcription and cadastral transfer costs and the share of the delegate’s fee charged to the buyer. The notice usually asks for a lump-sum cost deposit (fondo spese) paid with the balance.

The 120-day balance

Art. 569 c.p.c. sets the deadline for paying the balance at no more than 120 days from the award; instalments over up to twelve months are possible only if the court order allows them. The Court of Cassation treats the deadline as strict: no extension, no summer suspension, and, as an order of 14 May 2026 (no. 14194) put it, a deadline falling on a Saturday does not move to Monday.

Miss it and art. 587 c.p.c. applies: you lose the deposit (€9,700 on Reggiolo) and the land is resold.

For a foreign buyer, 120 days is tight for an Italian mortgage. Banks will want a valuation of a building plot in a development without accepted infrastructure, and a non-resident borrower file. If you need finance, get a lending decision before you bid, and ask the delegate whether the bank can pay the balance directly with its mortgage registered alongside the decree.

Unauthorised structures on the plot

A tool shed, a carport, a concrete slab: common on land at auction. Court sales are exempt from the planning nullity of art. 46 D.P.R. 380/2001, and paragraph 5 of that article gives the auction buyer 120 days from the transfer decree to apply for retrospective permission, where the structure qualifies. Administrative courts read this together with art. 40(6) of Law 47/1985: the auction buyer gets a fresh deadline, the 120 days run from the date of the transfer, and not knowing about the structure does not extend them. For a true amnesty (condono), the date of the debt being enforced also matters; have a surveyor check it against the valuation before you bid. Anything that cannot be legalised will have to be demolished at your expense. See our guide on unauthorised works.

Farmland at auction

If the lot is agricultural, find out whether it is leased. A tenant farmer has a pre-emption right under art. 8 of Law 590/1965 and, where there is no tenant, a neighbouring farmer may have one under art. 7 of Law 817/1971. How this works in a court sale is something the notice and the delegate should spell out. And without farmer status you pay 15%, not 9%. Our farmland guide covers pre-emption outside auctions.

For a small farm lot, the minimum tax matters. Lot 6 sold by the Court of Busto Arsizio in Somma Lombardo (Varese) in September 2026 was 1,230 m² of farmland with a starting price of €6,828.96. At the minimum bid (€5,121.72), 15% is €768; but the €1,000 minimum also applies at the 15% rate (art. 10(2) of Legislative Decree 23/2011), so the effective rate is 19.5%.

Your order of work

1. Codice fiscale, lawyer and power of attorney sorted before the bidding deadline is close.
2. Notice, court order and valuation downloaded from the PVP.
3. Valuation’s land registry data checked against a current visura and cadastral map.
4. New CDU, or written confirmation of today’s zoning from the municipality.
5. For a plot in a development: agreement, state of works, inspection, guarantees.
6. Site visit with the custodian.
7. Total cost: bid + the right tax row + costs + infrastructure still owed.
8. Finance decided; deposit sent early enough to be credited.

Zoning, mapped constraints (landscape protection and buffer zones where mapped), flood and landslide hazard zones and slope for your plot, each with its source and date, are in the TerrenoCheck report: €29 in one language, €39 with both English and Italian, to read alongside the court valuation. Find the plot on the map → · See a sample report