Frequently asked questions about judicial auctions

It is the sale of a property ordered by a court, in a property enforcement proceeding (esecuzione immobiliare) brought by a creditor or in an insolvency proceeding such as judicial liquidation (liquidazione giudiziale). The property goes to the highest bidder, with bidding starting from the starting price (prezzo base), and you become the owner with the transfer decree (decreto di trasferimento). The full process is in the guide how judicial auctions work.

The official website is the Public Sales Portal (Portale delle Vendite Pubbliche) of the Ministry of Justice, pvp.giustizia.it, where the law requires every judicial sale to be published (art. 490 c.p.c.). For properties, the same notice must also be published on at least one of the sites listed by the Ministry and indicated by the judge. On ImmobilScan you can search the same auctions by municipality, province and property type, with the link to the official notice.

Judicial auctions are not: art. 490 c.p.c. provides for the Public Sales Portal, the authorized sites and, if the judge orders it, newspapers. The Official Gazette (Gazzetta Ufficiale), in its 5th special series, does instead carry the auction notices of some public bodies that sell their own properties, when their rules require it. For public asset sales handled by notaries, the source is the Notarial Notices portal (Avvisi Notarili): see notarial auctions and public asset sales.

The starting price (prezzo base) is the reference price of that sale attempt. In property enforcement proceedings you may bid up to a quarter less than the starting price (art. 571 c.p.c.): this is the minimum bid (offerta minima). In insolvency proceedings and tax collection sales, the notice governs, and the minimum bid in many cases equals the starting price. Examples and the rules of the bidding are in the guide minimum bid and increments.

A new sale attempt is set with a starting price reduced by up to a quarter, and by up to half after the fourth failed attempt (art. 591 c.p.c.), with 60 to 90 days for bids. The timing and the number of attempts are explained in failed auctions and price reductions.

There is no complete public figure. The Public Sales Portal records the outcome of a sale only when the delegate enters it, and in the data we collect the award price is never filled in. A reliable national average therefore cannot be calculated from public data today. You can compare starting prices and reductions in the property auction observatory.

A judicial auction arises from an enforcement or insolvency proceeding and is directed by a judge, even when the sale is delegated to a notary and is commonly called a "notarial auction". A notarial auction for a public asset sale, by contrast, is the voluntary sale of a body's properties, governed by the rules of its notice. The differences are in the guide notarial auctions and public asset sales.

Anyone can take part, individual or company, except the debtor in the enforcement proceeding (art. 571 c.p.c.). By law, the judge, the delegate and the custodian of the proceeding also cannot buy (art. 1471 c.c.). Spouses, companies, foreign buyers and nominees are covered in the guide who can take part in an auction.

No, if you bid in person, on paper or online as the notice allows. If instead you want the bid to be submitted by someone else on your behalf, or you want to bid for a person to be named, you need a lawyer: the lawyer is the only one allowed to do so (arts. 571 and 579 c.p.c.). The cases are explained in who can take part in an auction.

You fill in the Ministry's official form, linked from the auction notice on the Public Sales Portal, you digitally sign it, pay the €16 stamp duty online and send it by PEC before the deadline. The steps and the errors that make a bid inadmissible are in the guide online auctions, synchronous and asynchronous.

Yes. You ask the custodian, through the listing on the Public Sales Portal if online booking is active for that property, or through the contacts in the notice. A debtor who lives there must allow the visit (art. 560 c.p.c.). How to request it and what to check is explained in court-appointed custodians and property viewings.

No. The bidding rewards the highest bid within the rules of the notice, and anyone who promises tricks is selling something else. What counts is arriving with a correct bid and deposit and a maximum price already decided. The costliest mistakes are in the guide on mistakes to avoid when buying at auction.

Yes: the bank lends directly to the proceeding, with a first-ranking mortgage on the property (art. 585 c.p.c.). However, the application must be started before the auction, because the balance is due at the latest 120 days after the award. Timing, banks and risks are in the guide mortgage to buy a home at auction.

To take part, you pay the €16 stamp duty and make a deposit of at least 10% of the price you bid, which is returned if you do not win. If you win, taxes, half of the sale delegate's fee for the transfer, and the transcription and cadastral transfer (voltura) charges are added to the price. The full table is in the guide what it costs to take part.

As a rule you pay registration tax (imposta di registro) at 9%, or at 2% for a primary residence (minimum €1,000), plus €50 for the mortgage tax (ipotecaria) and €50 for the cadastral tax (catastale), even when the debtor is a company, because the sale of homes is generally exempt from VAT (IVA). How it is calculated on the cadastral value (prezzo-valore) and when VAT applies is explained in what it costs to take part.

The debt remains with the former owner, but whoever takes over the property is jointly liable for the contributions for the current condominium year and the previous one, counted from the date of the transfer decree (art. 63 disp. att. c.c.). The amount is requested from the administrator or the custodian: how to estimate it is explained in the guide on condominium fees.

The custodian carries it out at no cost to the buyer, unless the buyer exempts the custodian from doing so (art. 560 c.p.c.), in proceedings where the seizure was notified after February 28, 2023; for older proceedings the previous rules and the order apply. Timing and cases, including tenants, are in the guide occupied property and vacating.

Yes. If you do not pay the balance on time, the judge declares forfeiture and keeps the deposit as a penalty; if the new sale brings in less, you also pay the difference (art. 587 c.p.c.). In proceedings where the seizure was notified after February 28, 2023, the same happens if you do not submit the anti-money-laundering declaration. If you do not win, the deposit is returned.

The deadline for the balance cannot be extended: once the deadline in the notice has passed, the judge declares the award forfeited and you lose the deposit (art. 587 c.p.c.). The deadline cannot exceed 120 days from the award: if your bid indicates a longer one, depending on the order the bid is either ineffective or the deadline is brought back to 120 days.

No, the bid is irrevocable (art. 571, third paragraph, c.p.c.). It stops binding you only if the judge orders an open-bid auction (vendita con incanto), or if 120 days have passed since submission without it being accepted. If you do not connect to the bidding, the property can be awarded to you on the basis of the bid you submitted.

There is no warranty for defects in the property (art. 2922 c.c.). However, remedies exist if the property is different from the one described, or if a third party claims ownership: if you notice before the transfer decree, consult a lawyer straight away. The visit and reading the appraisal report remain the best protection: see how to read an auction appraisal.

Yes. If the debtor lives there, vacating is ordered with the transfer decree, and a tenant with a lease that has a certain date (data certa) earlier than the seizure may stay until the lease expires (art. 2923 c.c.). The appraisal report states the occupancy status, and the cases are explained in occupied property and vacating.

Yes. Auction search, listing pages with prices, dates, location and public documents, the pages for cities and courts, and the guides are free and require no registration. With an account you also see the history of attempts, the services in the area and the value estimate. To prevent automated use, a limit on requests per IP address still applies.

An account unlocks the history of attempts, the value estimate and the automatic reading of the appraisal report and notice, with a link to the page of the document. It also adds the watchlist, saved searches with email alerts for new auctions, the auction calendar and report exports. For agencies, with a separate request, there are also the client CRM and shared workspaces. Access is by invitation, with a trial period, and you can request it from this page.

Listings on the Public Sales Portal are updated four times a day, and the statistics on the pages are recalculated every night; notarial notices are updated once a day. A new auction usually appears the same day, at the latest the following morning. Times and nightly checks are described on the methodology and data sources page.

Neither. ImmobilScan does not sell properties, is not an intermediary, and is not a site authorized for the legal publication of sales (art. 490 c.p.c.): it is a search and analysis tool that reuses public data. To take part, the official notice on the Public Sales Portal and the instructions of the sale delegate apply.

Judicial auctions come from the Ministry of Justice's Public Sales Portal; public asset sales and direct sales come from the Notarial Notices portal of the National Council of Notaries; price ranges come from the Real Estate Market Observatory (Osservatorio del Mercato Immobiliare, OMI) of the Revenue Agency. If you find incorrect data, write to amministrazione@immobilscan.it with the link to the listing: we check the source and correct it.