When you have decided to purchase a property in Italy, a number of legal requirements have to be fulfilled before you are the lawful owner of your dream property. Once your offer has been accepted by the vendor, you will enter a written pre-contract, the so called compromesso or preliminare di vendita and a deposit of 10-30% of the final sale price, will have to be paid by the buyer. Once the pre-contract has been replaced by a notary’s final contract and bears the signature of all parties involved, the change of ownership becomes legally binding and the remainder of the sale price becomes due.