What is the Visura Catastrale
The “visura catastale” (Land Registry Extract)Â is a document issued by the Italian Tax Agency containing information recorded at the Italian Land Registry in relation to real estate – buildings or land – located in Italian national territory.
It is possible to search the land registry to find all real estate owned by a individual or a legal entity, or to a single property.
The information shown on an ordinary Visura is:
- property identification data: urban section, sheet, parcel, sub-part, municipality.
- classification data: census area and any micro-area, cadastral category, class and cadastral area, property type, and yield.
- other information: personal data and tax code of the owner or owners.
A historical visura catastale instead reports information (in chronological order) on the history of the property, including previous owners or holders of expired rights (such as any “usufruct”or right to occupy the property), mergers with other properties, extensions or changes of use.
From the visura storica, it is therefore possible to check for any changes over the years in the consistenza (ie. how the property is made up – number of rooms and area) and any updates relating to the cadastral income.
Types of Visura
Thee are other types of visura apart from the ordinary one which reports data at the present time.Â
For example a historical visura catastale storica reports information (in chronological order) on the history of the property, including previous owners or holders of expired rights (such as any “usufruct”or right to occupy the property), mergers with other properties, extensions or changes of use.
From the visura storica, it is therefore possible to check for any changes over the years in the consistenza (ie. how the property is made up – number of rooms and area) and any updates relating to the cadastral income.
How to get a “Visura catastale“
Your notary handling the purchase will likely have pulled off a Visura before completion and may have included it in the package of documents that you were given after purchase. If not you can ask.
To get a Visura direct from the Tax Agency you need to log on to the Tax Agency website. Unfortunately, at the time of writing you need you need to log on with a Digital ID. Here we meet the problem, at the present time, that only people who are registered as resident in Italy, or Italian citizens resident aboard can obtain a SPID.
A programme is being rolled out under the aegis of the EU for mutual recognition of member states’ Digital IDs across borders within the EU, but progress seems to be slow.
If you do not have a digital ID, then you need to make use of professional service provider (a CAF, tax assistance center, or commercialista (cpa or accountant).
Alternatively you can use an online third party agency, or which there are many, who can obtain a Visura, for a small fee.
The visura reports land and buildings differently:
Identification: cadastral data showing where the land is located, and cadastral map section, sheet, plot and subordinate area (in case of rural building) for both categories
Qualitative info: type of crop (113 categories) and class for the land, cadastral category (from A to F and 58 subcategories) and class (level of quality of the building) for buildings;
Quantity: the land area in hectares (1 ha = 10,000 mÂČ) or in ares (1 are = 100 mÂČ), while the buildings are catalogued according to how they are made up;
Tax information: the rendita catastale or official yield – for land, income from the domain (income attributed to the owner, whether the land is the subject of agricultural activity or not) and income from agriculture (deemed income from agricultural activity). For buildings the deemed cadastral income (income yielding capacity of the structure) is reported.
Income tax, inheritance tax and local taxes, such as municipal property tax, can be calculated with the cadastral income. Indeed the visura catastale is usually the necessary starting point for calculating income tax on the rendita catastale, the official “yield” or annual income which is subject to tax (subject to de minimis limits or exemption for the prima casa – main home) in the hands of the owner. The rendita catastale is also the basis for calculating
The name of the owner, the legal owner (bare owner) or a holder of the usufruct, as well as any mortgages or other legal charges over the property, can also be found in the Visura.
From July 1, 2010 any notarial deed of sale must contain certification that the state of the property conforms to the cadastral plans. The cadastral plan is generally attached to the deed (or details of the plan are included).
The visura allows private and legal entities to find the cadastral data of real estate, land and buildings belonging to other natural and legal persons, but is mainly informative. The data contained in the cadastral survey have no legal value, as the Land Registry is a non-probatory body. The data contained may therefore not reflect the reality of the facts, for example, the owners of a property may not be correct, or vary over time.
For the above reasons, if you want to actively assert any real right on land and buildings, you must get hold of the title documents. You can do this by contacting the public official (e.g. the notary) who stipulated the latest transfer or update, or, in the event that the notary no longer practices the profession, by going to the local notarial archive.