Among the categories of notarial deeds, real estate deeds are perhaps the best known but also the most delicate.
In this type of deeds, which concern rights related to real estate assets (primarily buildings and land), the Notary plays a very important role, namely to verify who is the owner of the right subject of the deed and whether they are authorized to dispose of it.
Below is a brief list of some of the most important real estate deeds, with an explanation of their characteristics and main effects, which cannot in any way exclude direct consultation with the Notary, who will explain to the client all the peculiarities of the individual contract, request the necessary documentation for the deed, and work out the tax treatment of the deed itself and the presence of any benefits.
SALE AND PURCHASE
Sale and purchase is the contract concerning the transfer of ownership of a thing or the transfer of another right in exchange for a price.
Usually, it is the buyer who turns to the Notary because, by law, they are responsible for paying the taxes, duties, and fees of the deed (although nothing prevents different agreements between the parties). However, this does not mean that the Notary should not adequately and uniformly protect the interests of both parties. The main aspects to be identified and on which the Notary's attention and work will be based are:
- identifying the property to be sold through the analysis of the cadastral data and the floor plan, if required by law;
- identifying the holder of the right to be transferred and the origin of that right (notarial deed, succession, court decision, etc.);
- verifying that there are no prejudicial encumbrances or third-party rights to protect on the property (mortgages, attachments, easements, constraints, etc.).
It will then be up to the parties to make statements regarding the agreed price, payment methods, the use of intermediaries, and any mediation costs, the building permit or urban planning destination of the land.
DONATION
Donation is the contract by which one party (donor) enriches another (donee) for free, that is, without asking for anything in return, by transferring a right or assuming an obligation.
In the context of real estate donation, the Notary will perform the same checks as illustrated for sale and purchase, but the deed will have a different formality because the law expressly provides that two disinterested witnesses must participate in the deed, precisely because the transfer is made for free.
PARTITION
Partition is the contract by which various co-owners of several properties (for various reasons such as being called to an inheritance, having jointly purchased the property, etc.) dissolve the joint ownership and assign themselves the exclusive ownership of individual assets of the same joint ownership that have a value corresponding to the share that the participants in the contract have on the whole (the so-called “quota di diritto”). It is also possible to assign to a co-owner assets of greater value than that of their share; in this case, they must pay the others a cash settlement to compensate for the disproportion.
The checks made by the Notary are the same as those seen before.
MORTGAGE LOAN
Mortgage loan is the contract by which one party (usually a bank or a similar institution) grants another party (borrower) a sum of money to be repaid in installments, at a certain interest rate, in exchange for the borrower granting a security right (mortgage) on a specific property they own. It is one of the most common contracts, often linked to a sale and purchase, and it involves the Notary in a very delicate role, as they are required to verify not only what has already been seen in terms of verifying ownership of the real estate right but also to ensure that the clauses requested by the bank are legitimate and do not infringe on the rights of the consumer/borrower.