1 Workshop Spatial Information Management for Sustainable Real Estate Market Technical Session 2 – Legal Issues The real estate deeds and titles registration system in Italy Athens, Greece 29 May 2003 Dott. Roberta Marconi

2 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI In Italy the management and updating of real estate registers are assigned to Agenzia del Territorio, a public body acting under control of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, also charged with cadastre, cartography and real estate valuation for tax purposes.

3 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI Legal aspects referring to real estate registration

4 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI The maintenance of real estate registers is essential for a well- functioning real estate market, as it is oriented to assure a public knowledge of the deeds concerning: the conveyance of a property; the creation and the changes of rights on real estate assets; in order to let everyone be acquainted with: the ownership of the real estate assets; charges and encumbrances. Purposes of real estate registration

5 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI The registration has a different legal value, depending on the content of the deed: conveyance of a property, creation and changes of rights on real estate assets (declaring value) raise of a mortgage (creating value). The legal value of real estate registration

6 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI According to civil code, the right of ownership and the other rights on real estate assets transfer because of the agreement of the parties; transcription only serves to give the transfer a public knowledge. The buyer has an interest in registering the deed, in order to strengthen his right towards third parties. In fact, when several persons can assert a right on the same asset, the right is acquired by the first who registers his deed, with no respect to the date of the deed. However, the public officer that drew the deed is obliged to apply for the registration within 30 days. The registration with a declaring value

7 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI According to civil code, mortgages are raised by enrolment in the real estate registers, and need to be cancelled from them in order to extinguish. When a mortgage is enrolled, it is given a serial number that determines the creditors’ order of precedence. The registration gives the creditor a right to expropriate the mortgaged asset even if it has been sold to someone else, with a deed registered after the mortgage enrolment. The registration with a creating value

8 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI According to civil code, the registration of a real estate purchase takes effect towards third parties only if the deed by which the present seller bought the real estate asset has been registered (principle of transcriptions continuity). Applying this rule, when buying a real estate asset the purchaser should check the registration of all the previous passing of title, back until the first owner. The evidence of rights

9 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI The principle of transcriptions continuity can be overcome by usucapion: who owns a real estate asset, continuously and without violence, for 20 years gets the right. In order to fulfil the time required for usucapion, it is possible to take advantage of the ownership periods of the previous holders. Therefore the time to be considered for the evidence of right of property are the former 20 years; the queries in the real estate registers are generally limited to this period. The evidence of rights

10 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI In some districts of Northern-Eastern Italy (i.e. Trentino Alto-Adige) there is a different registration system, which is an inheritance from the Austrian period. Registration has a creating value also for transfers of rights of ownership or other rights on real estate assets. The deed has no direct effects, it only gives title to get the registration of one’s right. The table system

11 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI The real estate registers before computerization

12 The real estate registration system in Italy Roberta MARCONI Civil and fiscal duties following from the drawing up of a deed Public registers office Cadastre Transfer taxes office Public knowledge Mortgage and cadastral taxes Change of title Payment of transfer tax Deed Athens, 29 May 2003

13 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI In the real estate registers information are maintained with reference to the name of the rights’ owner, while it is impossible to make inquiries starting from the description or the location of the real estate asset. The organization of information

14 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI The computerization of the real estate registers

15 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI  A first computerization started in 1986 and finished in June 1994  A second computerization started in May 1995 and finished in August 1998

16 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI  Query by person  Query by asset  Crossed query (person + asset) The first computerization: New kinds of data queries Natural person Juridical person Personal data Fiscal code Name Fiscal code

17 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI  It becomes possible to submit the transcription application on a floppy disk; the original documents have to be brought subsequently. Advantages are notable: For the user: a safer data input, due to elimination of errors caused by hand copying; For the office: reduction of duties related to data typing. The first computerization: New ways to submit the transcription applications

18 The first computerization: New ways to submit the transcription applications Transcription application The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI

19 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI In the ’90 a reformation of Ministry of Finance unifies in a single Department cadastral and cartographic activities, together with real estate registers management. This unification points out a lack of coordination between the real estate registers data base and the cadastral one and, therefore, the need of an overall reorganization of the information architecture of the two systems. The second computerization: organizational background

20 NOTA Submission of transcription applications A new procedure to submit the transcription applications on floppy disks, delivered free on professionals demands. The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI

21 At the end of the day the office automatically updates the cadastral titles. Form 60 Cadastre Notes The real estate registration system in Italy Roberta MARCONI Alignment of cadastral data base information with new inputs coming from real estate registers Athens, 29 May 2003

22 Town Milan Urban Cadastre Sheet 2 Parcel 15 Sub 15 Information flows Real estate registers Cadastre  Automatic updating of cadastral titles  Control of the existence of the asset by crossing with Cadastre The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI Real estate registersCadastre

23 The real estate registration system in Italy Roberta MARCONI Reduction of duties Public registers office Cadastre Transfer taxes office Public knowledge Mortgage and cadastral taxes Change of title Payment of transfer tax Deed Athens, 29 May 2003

24 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI A project in progress: On-line registration of real estate deeds

25 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI Requirement: to simplify fiscal duties related to real estate deeds (Legislative Decree 18 January 2000, n. 9) Aims: to allow the users an on-line registration of real estate deeds and a self- assessment of the related taxes to automate the phases of control, registration, transcription in the real estate registers and updating of cadastral title. The first two phases must be contemporary with data receiving to optimize the information flows with the different fiscal offices

26 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI Who are the users: at the present time notaries, by submission of an enabling application through the district notaries council in the future: other public officers Which are their duties: to transmit on-line the filled form to receive the receipt and to check the form processing progress to bring the paper title, together with the registration receipt, to the real estate registers local office

27 XML Standard Java Language Electronic Signature UNIDOC software for on-line registration The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI

28 The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI Offices duties: on file receiving:  check of user’s identity and authorization  control of data form and content  deed registration  data transmission to cadastre and to fiscal offices responsible for transfer taxes  issue of a registration receipt afterwards:  charge of self-assessed taxes  issue of a payment receipt

29 The real estate registration system in Italy Central System Tax register UNICO Form in XML format Registration receipts – State of proceeding RNI Interbank National Network Bank Income Office Public Registers Cadastre Notary Unico Form Duty 1 Payment data Duty 2 Duty n... ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI

30 THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION The real estate registration system in Italy Athens, 29 May 2003 Roberta MARCONI