How to check an Italian property for mortgages, seizures and court charges before you buy (ispezione ipotecaria)

Already have a parcel in mind? The report checks it against public data, with a source and date for every finding. Open the map → €29 in English or Italian · €39 in both languages

The search of that archive is called an ispezione ipotecaria. This guide explains what it shows, how to run one (or have one run) from outside Italy, what it costs at the tariffs in force since 1 January 2025, and what to do if your seller’s property turns out to be mortgaged or seized. It works the same way for a plot of land and for a house. For a general overview of the kinds of encumbrance you can meet, see our guide to mortgages and liens in Italy. This page is practical guidance, not legal advice; the check that binds is the one the Italian notary carries out.

The Italian words you will see on the screen

Why a foreign buyer should run this search before the deposit

In an Italian purchase the money usually moves twice: a deposit (caparra) at the preliminary contract (compromesso or preliminare), then the balance at the deed (rogito) before the notary (notaio). The notary checks the registers before the deed. By then your deposit, often 10–30% of the price, is already with the seller. Your own search, which costs well under 100 euro, belongs before the preliminary contract, so that what you find can be written into it.

What the registers can show against a property

Mortgages: voluntary, judicial, statutory

Italian law has three sources of mortgage: the law itself (ipoteca legale, art. 2817 of the Civil Code), a court judgment or payment order (ipoteca giudiziale, art. 2818) and a contract or deed by the owner (ipoteca volontaria, art. 2821).

• A voluntary mortgage securing the seller’s home loan is routine. It is paid off from the price at completion and the bank arranges cancellation.
• A judicial mortgage means a creditor obtained a court order the seller did not pay. It is not cancelled automatically; the creditor has to be paid and has to consent.
• A mortgage in favour of the tax collection agency, or a statutory one, needs the same treatment: find out who the creditor is and what they want before you sign anything.

A mortgage registration lasts twenty years from its date and lapses unless renewed before then (art. 2847 Civil Code). An old mortgage that still appears on the list may therefore have no effect at all; check whether a renewal note follows it.

Seizure by a creditor (pignoramento)

A creditor seizes Italian real estate by registering the pignoramento. From that registration, any sale by the owner has no effect against the seizing creditor and those who join the enforcement (art. 2913 Civil Code). In plain terms: if you buy a seized house privately, the court can still auction it. The registration of a seizure also lasts twenty years and must be renewed (art. 2668-bis Civil Code); the Court of Cassation (third civil section, order no. 15143/2025) held that without renewal the enforcement cannot proceed.

Court freezing orders (sequestro)

A civil precautionary attachment (sequestro conservativo) on real estate is carried out precisely by registering the order with the property registers where the property lies (art. 679 Code of Civil Procedure). Criminal preventive seizures of real estate are also registered, under art. 104 of the implementing rules of the Code of Criminal Procedure as amended by Law 94/2009. A registered seizure means: do not buy until it is lifted and the lifting is noted on the register.

Pending lawsuits

A registered lawsuit (domanda giudiziale), for example an heirs' dispute over division or a claim that an earlier sale was a sham, does not stop a sale. But a buyer who acquires after its registration is bound by the outcome. Read the note and ask a lawyer what the claim is about.

How to run the search yourself

The online service is called Ispezione ipotecaria telematica. It sits in the reserved area of the Agenzia delle Entrate website, which you enter with an Italian digital identity: SPID, the electronic identity card (CIE) or a national services card (CNS). From the reserved area: Servizi > Consultazioni visure, planimetrie e ispezioni ipotecarie degli immobili > Accedi al servizio ispezione ipotecaria telematica.

1. Choose the search key. Three are available online: by individual (name and codice fiscale), by property (cadastral identifiers) and by note number. The online search by person works for individuals only; if the seller is a company, search by property or ask for a search by company at the provincial office counter.
2. Choose the district. Each provincial or territorial office covers a district (circoscrizione) and fees are charged per district.
3. Enter the property data. For land: municipality, foglio, particella. For a building add the subalterno. You find these in the cadastral extract; see our guide to the free online visura catastale and to reading a visura catastale.
4. Pay through pagoPA, the Italian public payments system, and receive the summary list of entries.
5. Open the notes that matter, each paid separately: any mortgage with no cancellation after it, any registration contro the seller that is not a completed sale, and the latest acquisition deed.
6. Download at once. Documents stay available for seven days after payment.

Searching by property or by seller

Start with the property. It shows every entry against the parcel, including those against previous owners, and does not depend on the spelling of a foreign or compound name. Its weak point: it follows the cadastral numbers. If the parcel was split or renumbered, older entries may sit under the previous number, which you find in the historical cadastral extract under "dati derivanti da". Then search the seller: a judicial mortgage registered against "all assets" of the seller, or a seizure with wrong parcel numbers, shows up only there.

Doing it from abroad

Most non-residents do not have SPID, a CIE or a CNS, so in practice the search is done for them. Three common routes:

• Your Italian surveyor (geometra) or lawyer runs it with their own credentials and sends you the summary list and notes. Ask for the PDFs themselves, not a summary in an email.
• The notary you appoint for the deed will run a full check anyway; you can ask them to run a first search before the preliminary contract, for a fee.
• A trusted person in Italy holding a power of attorney (procura). A procura is needed to sign for you, not to search the registers: anyone can search them. It becomes essential if you will not attend the preliminary contract or the deed. Ask the notary in advance which form of procura they accept from your country.

You will need a codice fiscale in any case to buy, and the seller’s codice fiscale (it appears in the cadastral extract) to search by person.

What it costs since 1 January 2025

Since 1 January 2025 there are no subscription fees for accessing the mortgage and cadastral databases (Revenue Agency Director’s measure of 30 December 2024, no. 460187, based on Legislative Decree 139 of 18 September 2024). Each search is still charged under the new "Table of fees for mortgage and cadastral services" introduced by Legislative Decree 139/2024 and published in the Official Gazette, general series no. 231 of 2 October 2024.

The 20% online reduction is in the Table itself; before 2025 it was 10%. The online column is our arithmetic: 8 × 0.8 and 5 × 0.8.

Worked example: a farmhouse with land, two sellers

A house (one unit in the buildings cadastre) and two parcels of land, sold by a married couple:

• search by property, 3 identifiers: 3 × €6.40 = €19.20
• search by person, 2 sellers: 2 × €6.40 = €12.80
• 4 notes opened: 4 × €4.00 = €16.00

Total online: €48.00. At the counter at full rates: €60.00. A professional will add their fee.

The register search tells you about debts on the property. It does not tell you what the land around it may be used for. The TerrenoCheck report covers that side for the parcel you pin: cadastral map, planning zone, landscape and environmental constraints, flood and landslide areas, each with source and date, in English and Italian. Pin the property on the map → · See a sample report

Reading a mortgage note

In a mortgage note (nota di iscrizione) four parts matter:

1. Section A, general data: the type of deed (loan, court payment order, tax roll), its date, the notary or court.
2. Section B, property: the cadastral identifiers charged. Check that your parcel or unit is there, not a neighbouring one.
3. Section C, parties: in favour of (bank, creditor) and against (debtor, or a third party who gave the property as security).
4. Amounts: principal, total secured, duration. The registered total is usually higher than the actual debt. What counts at completion is the bank’s payoff statement, not the figure on the note.

If the search finds something

A bank mortgage

This is normal. For loans from banks and financial intermediaries, art. 40-bis of the Consolidated Banking Act (Legislative Decree 385/1993) provides that the mortgage is extinguished automatically on the date the debt is repaid. The bank notifies the registry within thirty days and the mortgage is cancelled ex officio, with no notarial deed and no cost to the borrower; the bank issues a receipt.

The Revenue Agency applied this to a situation common with new-build flats. In resolution no. 23/E of 19 June 2026 it confirmed that the simplified cancellation also applies to a repaid share of a split developer’s mortgage (mutuo frazionato), even if the buyer did not take over that share of the loan. It does not apply to a mere release of some properties from a mortgage when the original debt remains a single debt. If you are buying a flat in a new block, ask: has the share for my flat been split and paid off, or does the mortgage still cover the whole building?

At completion the seller’s bank provides a payoff figure, part of your price goes straight to the bank, and the notary checks a few weeks later that the cancellation has been noted on the register.

A judicial or tax-collector mortgage

Cancellation needs the creditor’s consent in a deed made or authenticated by a notary (art. 2882 Civil Code), or a court order. Before the preliminary contract, get from the seller the creditor’s written statement of the amount due and its agreement to consent to cancellation at completion.

A seizure

A private sale of a seized property is ineffective against the creditors (art. 2913 Civil Code). Either the seller pays off the seizing and intervening creditors and has the seizure cancelled before you sign, or the property is bought at the court auction under enforcement rules. Do not pay a deposit to a seller whose property is seized without the creditors' written agreement and an Italian lawyer.

Found after the preliminary contract

If the seller did not disclose a mortgage, seizure or freezing order, the buyer may suspend payment of the price; where the mortgage secures a sum small in relation to the price, the buyer cannot withhold the whole price (art. 1482 Civil Code). Courts confine this to risks the buyer did not know about, which is one more reason to search first.

Long gap between contract and deed

If months pass between the preliminary contract and the deed, a new mortgage or seizure could be registered in between. A preliminary contract made as a notarial deed or authenticated private deed can itself be registered (art. 2645-bis Civil Code), and the final deed then takes priority over entries made after that date. It costs a notary’s fee; with an indebted seller or a long wait it is the most concrete protection available. The notary repeats the search on the morning of completion in any case; see our guide to the notary’s role in an Italian purchase.

What the register search does not cover

• Planning compliance and unauthorised works: these are in the town hall’s building file.
• Zoning, landscape and hydrogeological constraints: these are in plans and maps, not in register notes.
• Rights of way acquired by long use, which can exist with no registration at all.
• Unpaid condominium charges or local property tax (IMU), and unregistered leases or farm tenancies.

You can run the register search yourself or through your surveyor. For the planning side of the same parcel, the TerrenoCheck report shows zone, constraints and hazards with source and date; it does not list mortgages or owners and is not a valuation or legal opinion. €29 in one language, €39 in English and Italian. Check the parcel on the map → · See a sample report