When you buy a house somewhere other than Italy, maybe you need a lawyer. That’s fine and up to you and how it’s done there.

When you buy a house in Italy, do you need a lawyer? Well, I already gave the answer away. The short answer is ‘no’, and the long answer is ‘definitely not’.

- In Spain, for example, you need a lawyer. Not in Italy.

I already covered this in one of my Buyer’s Guide videos, but let me go over it again because we recently had an experience that has urged me to explain it again.

When you buy a house here, you have a few things on your side—the agent should be all on your side but might not be too interested in pointing out ‘problems’ with the house they’re selling you.

Let me give a recent example - keep in mind I am not an agent. A client from the US found a house. I knew the agent, but we got the house properly checked. The person checking it found some doors should have been where they weren’t, a window was against regulations, and a parapet was missing from the roof. The owner/seller is liable for correcting these things. The sale has to be delayed until these things are sorted.

OK, that’s good. I use an architect I know and trust. She is thorough, she’s not cheap, but why would you skimp on something so potentially costly? You need to get the house properly checked, to confirm that is according to law and to the official (catastale) plans.

So, you have the agent but I would double-check the owner and the agent. Then you have the notary.

Before the sale, the notary will ask for all the docs of the house and check the owners can sell, that necessary certification is in place, etc. They do things correctly. This is not a clerk but a serious office that cannot make mistakes. In 20 years of doing this and hundreds of sales, I’ve never experienced the notary making a mistake. I use a good and trusted notary. Same one every time.

- The notary is not the same as in the US. They don’t just check your ID..

Now, if you ask a lawyer to check into these people, the first thing they are going to ask themselves is, ‘Why do they want a lawyer?’ The second thing they ask is, ‘How much do we charge him for being so stupid?’

All the lawyer is going to do is check the things the notary will check anyway. That is it. Oh, and one more thing - they’ll slow it right down to justify a huge fee. I speak from a lot of experience.

The last time this happened I chose to walk away from the sale as it was obvious where it was going. Incredibly, the buyer who hired the lawyer complained to me that it was moving too slowly. Hmmm… I wasted a lot of time and never got paid, the architect never got paid for all their hard work - it seems the lawyer was instructed by the client to make sure she wasn't paid. The lawyer got paid, of course.

Pay someone to check the house properly, not someone to check these professional people.

So, please, feel free to ignore me and trust only a lawyer who is the first person to be dishonest with you - if they were honest, they’d tell you you don’t need them. If you do want a lawyer involved I need a consultancy fee upfront. I hope this is helpful! It's saved you at least €2000 already!