Have you inherited a house and are you already thinking about the photo shoot, the listing and the asking price?
Stop for a moment.
The fact that a property is part of an estate does not mean it is ready to be sold, because between the death of the previous owner and the day you can calmly sign the deed of sale there are a number of tax, land registry and legal steps that must be carefully checked.
Many owners approach this situation far too lightly, convinced that it is enough to file the inheritance tax return and find a buyer, but it is precisely once the sale has started that outdated registrations, acceptances never recorded, other heirs to be involved, debts of the estate, wills to be checked or property documents that are not in order can come to light.
The risk is accepting a purchase offer or signing a preliminary contract, taking on specific commitments and only discovering afterwards that you are not yet in a position to transfer the property properly.
That is why, when we are asked to sell a home that comes from an inheritance, the first thing to do is not to publish the listing, but to correctly reconstruct the entire succession situation.
THE INHERITANCE TAX RETURN IS THE FIRST STEP, BUT IT DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MAKE YOU AN HEIR
When the estate includes a property, the inheritance tax return (dichiarazione di successione) must normally be filed with the Italian Revenue Agency within twelve months of the opening of the succession, which coincides with the date of death.
This return declares the assets and rights that belonged to the deceased, calculates the taxes due and provides the information needed to update the status of the properties.
It is an essential step in preparing the sale, but a very common misunderstanding needs to be cleared up: the inheritance tax return is mainly a tax formality and does not, on its own, amount to acceptance of the inheritance.
In fact, the return can also be filed by someone who has simply been called to the inheritance and has not yet made a final decision on whether to accept or renounce it.
This means that finding your name in the succession is not enough to claim that all the legal aspects have been resolved. The tax succession and acquiring the status of heir are two related matters, but they are not the same thing.
And it is precisely the confusion between these two steps that causes many problems at the time of sale.
THE LAND REGISTRY TRANSFER: IMPORTANT, BUT IT IS NOT THE TITLE OF OWNERSHIP
After the succession, the property’s land registry (Catasto) registration must also be updated.
Today, in most cases, the application for the land registry transfer (voltura catastale) is submitted together with the online inheritance tax return and the update is carried out automatically by the Revenue Agency, except in particular situations that require a separate procedure.
The transfer replaces the name of the deceased with those of the persons indicated as successors, thereby updating the land registry database.
Here too, however, it is important to use the right words.
The Land Registry mainly serves a tax purpose and does not, on its own, constitute definitive proof of ownership. You do not become the owner simply because your name appears in the land registry search and, likewise, a transfer that has not yet been updated does not automatically cancel the rights deriving from the succession.
This does not mean that the transfer can be ignored.
When you sell, the land registry records, the situation in the Property Registers and the data stated in the deed must be consistent. If discrepancies, errors in names, incorrect shares or previous successions that were never settled come to light, the notary will have to ask for clarification and, in the most complex cases, the sale could be suspended until everything has been fully regularised.
The transfer, therefore, does not create ownership, but keeping it correctly updated is part of the documentary continuity needed to reach the deed of sale without surprises.
ACCEPTING THE INHERITANCE: THE STEP MANY PEOPLE ONLY DISCOVER AT THE NOTARY’S OFFICE
To become an heir, it is not enough to be named in a will or to be the spouse, child or closest relative of the deceased.
Being called to the inheritance means having the right to choose whether to accept or renounce it.
Acceptance can be express or tacit.
Express acceptance takes place when the person called formally declares, in a public deed or a private written agreement, that they accept the inheritance, or expressly assumes the status of heir.
When the acceptance also concerns real estate and has to be recorded, a document meeting the requirements for property registration will be needed.
It is not true, however, that express acceptance is always mandatory when there are several heirs. Having several people involved certainly makes the situation more delicate, because the shares, the consent to the sale and any disagreements need to be checked, but it does not automatically make express acceptance the only possible route.
Each succession must be examined individually, because the correct solution depends on the deeds already executed, on whether there is a will, on the relationships between the persons called and on the need to make the hereditary acquisition recordable.
Tacit acceptance, on the other hand, occurs when the person called performs an act that necessarily presupposes the intention to accept and that they could not perform other than in their capacity as heir.
The most obvious example is precisely the sale of the inherited home.
A person who disposes of the property and transfers it to a buyer is acting as the owner and, through that act, unequivocally shows the intention to accept the inheritance.
This means that, in many cases, it is not necessary to sign a separate deed of express acceptance beforehand, because the sale itself constitutes tacit acceptance.
But be careful: saying that the sale can amount to tacit acceptance does not mean that it is enough to turn up at the notary’s office with the inheritance tax return and sign without having carried out any checks.
When the estate includes real estate, the acceptance must also be made public through the Property Registers, so as to guarantee continuity between the previous owner, the heir and the new buyer.
In practice, the notary checks the provenance and, if the acceptance of the inheritance has not already been recorded, arranges for the tacit acceptance to be recorded on the basis of the deed of sale or another suitable deed.
If, however, the property’s history includes several successions, acceptances never recorded, heirs who have since died or incomplete transfers, the situation can become much more complex and it may be necessary to reconstruct and correctly record previous hereditary acquisitions as well.
This is one of the reasons why waiting until you have found a buyer before checking the provenance is a very risky choice.
IF THERE ARE DEBTS, DO NOT TAKE ANY ACTION BEFORE SEEKING ADVICE
By accepting the inheritance you do not only take over the properties, money and other assets that belonged to the deceased. You could also take over the debts, obligations, legal disputes and tax liabilities that pass to the heirs.
With pure and simple acceptance, the estate and the heir’s personal assets merge, and the heir can be held liable for the debts of the estate with their own assets as well.
For this reason, when you do not know the exact financial situation of the deceased, you must avoid lightly performing acts that could be interpreted as tacit acceptance.
The solution to consider may be acceptance with benefit of inventory, a special form of acceptance that keeps the estate of the deceased separate from that of the heir and limits liability for the debts of the estate to the value of what has been received.
It does not mean, as is often said too simplistically, “I accept only if the assets exceed the debts”. It means that you accept the inheritance, but prevent any liabilities exceeding the inherited estate from falling freely on your personal assets.
Acceptance with benefit of inventory requires a formal procedure, with a declaration received by a notary or by the clerk of the competent court and with the inventory drawn up within the time limits set by law.
Timing is particularly important, especially when the person called is already in possession of the estate’s assets, and this is precisely why you should not sell, withdraw money, dispose of assets or take other significant actions before checking with a professional what effects they could have.
If you have doubts about the existence of debts, the right time to deal with them is before acceptance, not after.
WHEN THERE ARE SEVERAL HEIRS, YOU CANNOT DECIDE ALONE
If the house has been inherited by several people, each co-heir becomes the owner of their own share of the entire property.
To sell the whole house, therefore, all those entitled must take part in the decision and in the deed, or one of them must hold a valid power of attorney granted by the others.
The fact that only one heir uses the property, pays the expenses or filed the inheritance tax return does not automatically give them the power to sell it on behalf of the others.
Before starting to market the property, it is therefore necessary to check who has actually been called to the inheritance, who has accepted it, what the shares are, whether there is a will and whether everyone is willing to sell on the same terms.
It may seem an obvious step, but it is not.
It often happens that a sale is started by just one of the heirs and that the others are only involved when an offer arrives. At that point, disagreements may arise over the price, the timing, the division of the proceeds or even the very decision to sell.
The buyer, who thought they had found an available home, thus finds themselves caught up in a family dispute that can last for months or scupper the deal altogether.
PROBLEMS MUST NOT COME TO LIGHT A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE DEED
Before putting an inherited home on the market, it is necessary to check not only the inheritance tax return, but also the deceased’s deed of provenance, any will, the entries in the Property Registers, the heirs’ shares, mortgages, prejudicial encumbrances, the land registry and planning status of the property and whether any rights belong to other parties.
In our working method, these checks are coordinated through the Check-Up Immobiliare Avanzato™ (Advanced Property Check-Up), involving the notary, the surveyor and the other relevant professionals according to the specific situation.
The notary will carry out the checks within their remit before the deed, but waiting until that stage to start gathering and checking documents means needlessly exposing yourself to delays and disputes.
Imagine you have found a buyer, accepted an offer, agreed on a date for the deed and perhaps already used the deposit to arrange another purchase.
A few days before the deed, it emerges that the acceptance has not been correctly recorded, that an heir is missing, that the succession contains an error or that there is a previous transfer to be reconstructed.
At that point you no longer have just a documentation problem. You have made a contractual commitment to a buyer and may not be able to honour it within the agreed timeframe.
And that is exactly where disputes can arise: demands for repayment of double the confirmatory deposit, where the conditions are met, claims for damages or actual lawsuits.
WHAT WE DO BEFORE PUTTING AN INHERITED HOME ON THE MARKET
When we are entrusted with a property that comes from a succession, we do not start with the photos and the listing.
We start with the documents.
We reconstruct the inheritance situation and check the inheritance tax return, the land registry records, the provenance, the shares and the presence of all the parties needed for the sale, involving the notary, the surveyor or other professionals when the situation requires specific expertise.
The goal is simple: to bring every problem to light while there is still time to solve it, not when there is already a buyer in front of us waiting to sign.
An inherited home can be sold properly and without particular difficulty, but it must be carefully prepared.
The inheritance tax return must be filed correctly, the land registry records must be updated, the hereditary acquisition and the continuity of the recorded entries must be verified, all co-heirs must be involved and the property’s documentation must be complete.
Only then does it make sense to set the price, carry out the photo shoot and start the marketing.
Because finding a buyer is not the hardest part when the house is attractive and presented in the right way.
The most delicate part is being truly ready to sell them what you have promised.