The cost of bidding and winning at auction

The first cost is the €16 stamp duty. In online sales it is paid digitally on the Ministry of Justice's Telematic Services Portal (Portale dei Servizi Telematici), and the XML receipt is attached to the offer. For paper offers, it is a duty stamp (marca da bollo) affixed to the application.

The second cost is the bid deposit. Art. 571 of the Code of Civil Procedure requires a deposit of no less than one tenth of the price you offer, made in the manner set by the order. The 10% is calculated on your price, not on the starting price (prezzo base).

In enforcement proceedings (procedura esecutiva) you may bid up to one quarter below the starting price: that is the minimum bid (offerta minima). In insolvency proceedings and tax collection sales, what the notice says applies, and the minimum bid often equals the starting price. With a starting price of €140,000 in an enforcement proceeding, the minimum bid is €105,000 and the minimum deposit €10,500. If you bid €145,000, the deposit rises to €14,500.

The deposit is paid by bank transfer to the procedure's account, or to the online sale operator's account if the notice so provides. It must be credited within the deadline in the notice, otherwise the offer is ineffective (art. 571). Make the transfer at least 3 to 5 business days before the deadline. If the amount has decimals, round it up.

For an online offer you also need a PEC (certified email) address and a digital signature (firma digitale), which you buy from authorized providers. You do not pay the online sale operator yourself: an order of the Tribunale di Brescia from 2025, for example, places its costs among those the delegate pays from the procedure's expense fund.

The deposit is returned in full to the same account it was paid from, less the cost of the return transfer. The Tribunale di Locri's notice model, for example, returns it «detratte le sole spese di bonifico (non superiori ad euro 5,00)», that is, less only the transfer fees, not exceeding €5.00. The stamp duty is not recovered.

The case of a winner who does not pay is different. If the balance does not arrive by the deadline, the judge declares forfeiture (decadenza) and the deposit is kept «a titolo di multa», as a fine (art. 587). If the subsequent sale realizes less, adding the deposit that was kept, you must pay the difference.

For proceedings where seizure was served after February 28, 2023, forfeiture also occurs if you do not submit the anti-money-laundering declaration (dichiarazione antiriciclaggio) by the balance deadline (arts. 585, paragraph 4, and 587). For older proceedings the previous rules and the judge's order apply, and the judge may still request the declaration. Knowing where the balance will come from is therefore part of the cost. There is a dedicated guide on buying an auction property with a mortgage.

At auction there is no notarial deed. The instrument that makes you the owner is the transfer decree (decreto di trasferimento) issued by the judge, and the taxes are paid on it. For tax purposes the seller is the debtor subject to enforcement (debitore esecutato). The delegate indicates the tax regime, but the notices remind you that checking it is your responsibility.

If the debtor is a private individual, registration tax (imposta di registro) is paid. If the debtor is a business, the sale of a home is generally exempt from VAT (art. 10, no. 8-bis, D.P.R. 633/1972), and registration tax is still paid. VAT applies when the business that built or renovated the property less than five years earlier sells it, or, after five years, if the business has opted for VAT.

The table applies to homes. Shops, offices and warehouses sold by a business follow a different regime, with mortgage and cadastral taxes calculated as a percentage: you will find it in the delegate's calculation.

For registration tax, the taxable base is the award price (prezzo di aggiudicazione) (art. 44 D.P.R. 131/1986). If you buy a home as a private individual, outside any business or professional activity, you can request the price-value (prezzo-valore). The tax is then calculated on the cadastral value: cadastral income × 1.05 × 110 for a primary residence, × 120 in other cases. The Constitutional Court (ruling no. 6 of 2014) extended this option to forced sales, and the Revenue Agency confirms it.

The price-value option makes sense when the cadastral value is lower than the price. After many reductions the opposite can happen: in that case you do not request it, and the tax stays on the award price.

The primary residence declarations must be submitted before the transfer decree is registered (Revenue Agency resolution no. 38/E of 2021). In practice, you make them in the offer or to the delegate by the balance deadline. Once the decree is registered, they can no longer be added.

The requirements are those of an ordinary purchase:

• cadastral category other than A/1, A/8 and A/9;
• property in the municipality where you are resident, or where you move within 18 months, or where you work;
• no other home you own, alone or with your spouse, in the same municipality;
• no other home bought with primary residence benefits elsewhere in Italy, unless you sell it within two years of the new purchase (a term extended from one to two years by the 2025 Budget Law).

From January 1, 2027 the registration tax rules move into the new Consolidated Text on Registration Tax and Other Indirect Taxes (Testo unico dell'imposta di registro e degli altri tributi indiretti) (D.Lgs. 123/2025, with the postponement under D.L. 200/2025). If the transfer decree arrives in 2027, have the delegate confirm the rates and the taxable base.

The sale delegate (professionista delegato: notary, lawyer or accountant) is paid largely by the procedure, but a share falls to the winning bidder (aggiudicatario). D.M. 227/2015, art. 2, paragraph 7, places three items on you:

• half the fee for the transfer phase (fase di trasferimento della proprietà);
• the related overhead (spese generali);
• the expenses actually incurred for registration, transcription and cadastral transfer (voltura catastale).

The fee for the transfer phase depends on the award price:

On top of these figures come the professional's extras: with pension contributions (cassa previdenziale) and VAT, €825 becomes roughly €1,000 to €1,050, depending on the delegate's profession. The judge may increase the fee by up to 60% or reduce it by up to 25%, depending on complexity. For justified reasons, the judge may also set your share at a figure other than half. The exact amount is in the request the delegate sends you after the award.

Registration, transcription and cadastral transfer of the decree add no further taxes, if you pay the registration tax. The decree and the related formalities are exempt from stamp duty, special cadastral taxes and mortgage fees, and pay only the €50 + €50 already mentioned (art. 10, paragraph 3, D.Lgs. 23/2011). Copies of the decree still carry fees (diritti).

With the transfer decree, the judge orders the cancellation of seizures (pignoramenti) and mortgages (art. 586 c.p.c.). The law does not say uniformly whether the cost is yours or the procedure's: the court's order decides. Two models published in 2025 reach opposite solutions:

• the Tribunale di Locri's notice model sells the property free of mortgages and seizures, «che saranno cancellate a cura e spese della procedura» (to be cancelled at the expense of the procedure);
• the Tribunale di Ancona's order model places on the winning bidder «quelle relative alla cancellazione delle formalità e di ogni altro vincolo cancellabile» (those relating to the cancellation of formalities and of any other cancellable encumbrance).

If the cost is yours, the heaviest item is the mortgage tax (imposta ipotecaria) on the mortgages. It is 0.50% of the lesser of the secured credit and the award price (Revenue Agency circular no. 8/E of 2015). With a mortgage registered for €240,000 and an award at €150,000, that is €750 for that mortgage.

Each annotation adds a €35 mortgage fee (tassa ipotecaria) and stamp duty, and cancelling the seizure also carries a fixed cost. The delegate's calculation gives the exact amounts. The formalities to be cancelled are listed in the appraisal report (perizia) and in the mortgage certificate: count them before you set your price.

It depends on who occupies the home. If the debtor occupies it, or someone without a title enforceable against the proceedings, the court-appointed custodian (custode giudiziario) carries out the vacating at no cost to you, unless you release the custodian from that duty (art. 560 c.p.c.). If you do, you proceed on your own with the eviction enforcement (esecuzione per rilascio), at your expense.

If instead there is an enforceable lease, for example one with a certain date before the seizure, no one vacates the property. You step in as landlord until the contract expires (art. 2923 c.c.).

The rules of the amended art. 560 apply to proceedings where seizure was served after February 28, 2023. For older proceedings, the previous rules and the judge's order apply. Timing and special cases are covered in the guide on occupied property at auction.

These are the items where the numbers are most often miscalculated.

Condominium fees (spese condominiali). A buyer of a unit in a condominium is jointly liable with the debtor for the contributions of the current year and the previous year (art. 63 disp. att. c.c.). On an apartment with €1,800 a year of unpaid fees, the administrator can ask you for up to €3,600. The appraisal report states arrears as of its own date, which may be many months old. Ask the administrator or the custodian for updated figures. The topic has its own guide: condominium fees and auction properties.

Regularizations. Amnesties (sanatorie), cadastral practices and restorations have a cost that the appraisal report must estimate. It is the appraiser's estimate, not a quote. See how to read the appraisal report.

Certifications. The Tribunale di Locri's notice model asks the bidder to release the procedure from producing the compliance certificate for the systems and the energy performance certificate (attestato di prestazione energetica). If you need them, they are at your expense.

Mortgage. If you pay the balance with a mortgage, the loan has its own costs: the notary and the substitute tax (imposta sostitutiva), 0.25% for a primary residence and 2% in other cases (art. 18 D.P.R. 601/1973). The timing of the financing is covered in the guide on mortgages for auction purchases.

Let us assume an apartment awarded at €150,000, sold by a private debtor, with a cadastral income of €800 and a price-value requested. The cancellations are at the buyer's expense, as in Ancona, with a €240,000 mortgage. The condominium has two unpaid years at €1,800 each.

The deposit paid is not an extra cost: it is credited toward the price. The gap between the two columns, over €7,000, is entirely tax-related. That is why the primary residence declarations should be prepared together with the offer.

The balance (saldo) is paid by the deadline in the order, which by law cannot exceed 120 days from the award (art. 569 c.p.c.). If your offer indicated a shorter deadline, that one applies. The judge may allow payment in installments within 12 months, but only if the notice provides for it and you request it in the offer.

Together with the balance you pay an expense fund (fondo spese) estimated by the delegate for taxes and fees. The Locri model applies the amounts first to expenses and then to the price: if the fund is insufficient, the balance is shown as incomplete. The same model gives 15 days to top it up, on pain of forfeiture. It also notes that these deadlines are not suspended in August, because they are not procedural deadlines (the model cites Cass. civ. no. 18421/2022).

This guide concerns property enforcement proceedings. In notarial auctions run by public bodies there is no transfer decree: ownership passes with a notarial deed, and the notary's fee, taxes and charges are set by the notice (see notarial auctions). In judicial liquidation (formerly bankruptcy), the sale rules are set by the liquidation program (art. 216 CCII): who pays the transfer and the cancellations is stated in the trustee's notice.

To check whether the price still holds once costs, taxes and works are added, start from the lot on ImmobilScan, where the notice, the appraisal report and public documents are free. With an account you also see the history of attempts and an estimated value. The full reasoning is in the guide on starting price and market value.