Mortgage inspection

In particular, it is possible to verify the presence of “registrations” “entries” and “annotations.”

The “registration” is the term used by the Italian Civil Code to describe the action of recording, in the Land Registers, acts of property transfer (such as sale, donation, inheritance, or other) or the establishment of a real right (such as usufruct, right of habitation, servitude, etc.) or a lien (such as mortgages, seizures, or others).

It is important to note that, in the case of a sale, it is not the signing of the notarial deed that determines the transfer of ownership of the property, but, in fact, the registration of that deed, which is why it is essential to verify that the notary has properly carried out this procedure.

Similarly, in the case of properties acquired by inheritance, it is necessary to verify that the transfer of ownership to the heir has been registered, as the inheritance declaration only has fiscal value and tacit acceptance of the inheritance.

Equally important as the registration is the “entry,” which makes it public that a property is encumbered by a mortgage, either from a loan taken out on that property, from an action by a creditor, or another source.

The modification of a previous registration or entry (such as the cancellation of a mortgage after the loan has been repaid) is referred to as an “annotation.”

It should be noted that with the digitization of the Land Registers, which began in the 1980s, through the Sister service, it is now possible to obtain not only the list of registrations, entries, and annotations present on a property but also a copy of the document that generated them (for example, the deed of sale).

Another important aspect of the digitization of the Land Registers is that if an attempt to perform a mortgage inspection on Sister results in no findings (because the searched property cannot be found), the outcome can be considered favorable by the potential buyer, as it means that since the digitization process became effective, no entries (mortgages) have been recorded. Given that mortgages have a twenty-year duration, any previous entries will now be extinguished. In these cases, for greater security, it may be necessary to carry out a personal check at the offices of the Agency of the Territory.