Mistakes to avoid when buying a home at auction

1. Buying a share thinking you are buying the whole home

The listing says "apartment of 95 m² for €48,000," and the price looks unbeatable. In the appraisal report, in the paragraph on the right for sale, it says "1/2 share of full ownership." You end up as a co-owner with a brother of the debtor, who lives there and has no intention of selling or moving out. The same applies to bare ownership (nuda proprietà), where a usufructuary (usufruttuario) may stay for decades, or to a surface right (diritto di superficie).

The remedy is to read the right and share (diritto e quota) before reading the price. ImmobilScan listings show it for each asset; in the notice it appears in the lot description.

2. Taking the starting price for the value

The starting price comes from the estimate of the court-appointed appraiser (esperto stimatore), which may date back many months. After each failed auction it may also have been reduced. It can be a bargain, or still high for the area. The comparison should be made with real sales in the neighborhood, not with the first auction price. How to do this is explained in starting price and market value and in how to value a property.

3. Underestimating a building violation

The appraisal report says: "unauthorized veranda, not regularizable, restoration to original state estimated at €6,000." That figure is an estimate. The real risk is a demolition order or a fine from the municipality, at your expense, and a bank that may refuse a mortgage for as long as the violation remains.

For unauthorized works, the rule is demolition. A monetary fine replaces it only when restoration is not possible or would damage the lawful part of the building (arts. 33 and 34 d.P.R. 380/2001). For some violations, the winning bidder has 120 days from notice of the transfer decree to apply for a building permit regularization (sanatoria) (art. 46, fifth paragraph, d.P.R. 380/2001). Others can be regularized, where possible, through a conformity certificate (accertamento di conformità). In every case, engage a technician right after the decree.

The appraisal report must state the options and costs for the building permit regularization (art. 173-bis disp. att. c.p.c.): how to read an auction appraisal shows where to find them.

4. Not asking who lives there

A home lived in by the debtor and their family is cleared under the order the judge issues together with the transfer decree. The court-appointed custodian (custode giudiziario) carries it out, even after the decree and at no cost to you, unless you release the custodian from that duty (art. 560 c.p.c.). This applies to proceedings where seizure was served after February 28, 2023. For older proceedings, the earlier rules and the judge's order apply.

A tenant is a different matter. Their lease is enforceable against you if it has a certain date (data certa) earlier than the seizure (art. 2923 c.c.). If it lasts more than nine years and was not recorded (trascritto) before the seizure, it binds you only for the first nine years. You need not honor it if the rent is a third below the fair price, the so-called unfairly low rent (canone vile).

The gap between "vacant" and "occupied under an enforceable title" can mean years of difference and a different return. Read the possession status in the appraisal report and ask the custodian to confirm it: occupied auction property and vacating.

5. Bidding without having seen the property

The appraisal report describes the property as it was on the day the appraiser went in. Since then, winters may have passed with a leaking roof, a dismantled system or abandoned furniture. A viewing can be requested for free from the lot's page on the Public Sales Portal (Portale delle Vendite Pubbliche, PVP), but request it early. The Tribunale di Locri's model notice, for example, guarantees a viewing within 15 days of the request, not the next day. How to do it and what to look for: court custodians and property viewings.

6. Forgetting the condominium arrears

At auction, the transfer decree cancels mortgages and seizures, but not condominium fees. Toward the condominium, you are jointly and severally liable (in solido) with the debtor for the fees of the current and previous accounting years (art. 63 disp. att. c.c., the implementing provisions of the Civil Code). With fees of €2,000 a year, that is up to €4,000 that does not appear in the price, plus any extraordinary works. The updated figure is known to the custodian or the condominium administrator. Details in condominium fees on an auction property.

7. Calculating your maximum bid on the price, not on the total cost

A lot has a starting price of €140,000 and a minimum bid of €105,000. You set your maximum at €115,000, because that is what the home is worth to you. Then you discover costs you had not counted:

• taxes: for a primary residence bought under the price-value regime (prezzo-valore), 2% of the cadastral value plus €50 mortgage tax and €50 cadastral tax. That is €2,100 on a cadastral value of €100,000;
• half of the sale delegate's fee for the transfer phase, plus registration, transcription and change-of-ownership (voltura) costs;
• the taxes for cancelling the registered formalities, if the notice puts them on you;
• condominium arrears of up to €3,600;
• €15,000 in renovation work.

With these items added to your €115,000, the total passes €135,000 before the delegate's fee and the cancellation costs are even counted. The items, with amounts and reliefs, are in the cost of bidding and winning at auction.

8. A bid deposit transfer that arrives late

Bids close on Monday at noon and the sale is on Tuesday. You order the ordinary bank transfer on Monday morning, together with the bid, and it arrives on Tuesday. The order required the deposit to be credited by the day before the sale: the bid is inadmissible. The deposit is returned to you, but the auction is lost. An order from the Tribunale di Siena, for example, also warns that an instant transfer ordered outside business hours may not arrive in time.

Variants of the same mistake are a CRO entered incorrectly, which prevents the transfer from being matched to the bid, and an international transfer from which the bank deducts fees, bringing the deposit below the 10% required. The remedy is to order the transfer at least 3–5 business days before the deadline in the notice of sale, with the payment reference (causale) written as the notice requires, and to check the CRO on the bank's transfer receipt.

9. An online bid sent from the wrong certified email (PEC)

The agency or the accountant "does you a favor" and sends the bid from their own certified email (PEC) account. The instructions of the Tribunale di Lodi, for example, admit as submitters only the bidder, one of the bidders, the legal representative of a company, or a lawyer with a special power of lawyer (procura speciale). A bid sent by anyone else is inadmissible. Other typical errors are an expired digital signature and a bid file opened or renamed before submission. The correct procedure is in synchronous and asynchronous online auctions.

10. Bidding for someone else, or forgetting a spouse

The property is registered in the name of whoever signs the bid. If you want to buy it for your son, he must make the bid. To bid on someone else's behalf you need a lawyer with a special power of lawyer (art. 571 c.p.c.), in the form the notice requires. A power of lawyer to a relative or to the agency is not enough. Only a lawyer may also bid for a person to be named later (art. 579 c.p.c.).

If you are married under the community property regime (comunione legale), the property falls into the community unless your spouse makes the declaration provided for by art. 179 of the Civil Code (c.c.). Who can bid, and how, is explained in who can bid at a judicial auction.

11. Applying for the mortgage after winning

This is the costliest mistake. The balance must be paid by the deadline stated in the bid or the notice of sale, which is at most 120 days after the award. If the bank does not disburse in time, the judge declares forfeiture and the bid deposit is lost as a penalty. If the property is then resold and the new price, plus the lost deposit, is less than yours, you also pay the difference (art. 587 c.p.c.). With a €15,000 deposit and a resale price €30,000 lower, you lose the deposit and owe another €15,000 as the difference: €30,000 in total.

The law provides for a mortgage loan (mutuo) paid directly to the proceedings and secured by a first-ranking mortgage on the same property (art. 585 c.p.c.). But the application must be started before the auction: mortgage for buying a home at auction. When there are justified reasons, the judge may also allow payment in installments within twelve months (art. 569 c.p.c.). This only counts if the order provides for it.

The anti-money-laundering declaration under art. 585 c.p.c. must be submitted by the same deadline as the balance. The notice may also require it in older proceedings. Under the 2024 corrective decree (D.Lgs. 164/2024), failing to submit it leads to forfeiture, just like non-payment. The rule applies to proceedings where seizure was served after February 28, 2023. For older proceedings, the earlier rules and the judge's order apply.

12. Confusing a notarial auction with a judicial one

An INPS apartment listed on the Notarial Notices Portal (Portale Avvisi Notarili) looks like any other auction. You bid 75% of the starting price, as you would in a property enforcement, and the bid is excluded: in the 2026 INPS call for bids (bando), the bid must be at least equal to the starting price. The bid deposit is paid by cashier's check, and a second one is required within 15 days of the award. Ownership passes through a notarial deed (rogito) in which you waive zoning warranties, and until that deed the body may not complete the sale. The differences are explained in notarial auctions and public asset sales.

The last two mistakes are not technical.

13. Bidding emotionally

In a synchronous auction, bids are raised every minute, and anyone who has not decided their limit beforehand goes €10,000 past it in a quarter of an hour. Write your maximum figure on paper before logging in.

14. Waiting for a price reduction at all costs

If a lot fails, the price drops at the next attempt. In the meantime, another bidder may arrive, or the proceedings may close. When it makes sense to wait is explained in failed auctions and price reductions.

The lot

• Right and share for sale: full ownership of the whole?
• Possession status: vacant, occupied by the debtor, or a tenant with an enforceable lease?
• Planning and cadastral compliance; violations regularizable or not, and at what cost
• Date of the appraisal report: the older it is, the more a viewing is needed
• Accessory properties (garage, cellar) included in the lot, with their cadastral details

The costs

• Taxes and reliefs (primary residence, price-value regime) calculated
• Half of the delegate's fee for the transfer; cancellation costs, if the notice puts them on you
• Condominium arrears for the last two accounting years, and any approved works
• Renovation costs estimated by someone who has seen the property
• Maximum bidding price calculated on the total cost

The bid

• Viewing done, or requested on the PVP in time
• Mortgage approved, or cash available by the balance deadline
• Bid deposit transfer ordered 3–5 business days in advance, with the payment reference and CRO checked
• Digital signature valid; bid submitted by you or by your lawyer
• Submission deadline and time read in the notice of sale, not assumed
• Name on the bid and marital property regime correct

After

• Online operator credentials expected on your PEC 30 minutes before the auction
• Anti-money-laundering declaration and balance paid by the deadline
• Certified copy of the decree sent to the condominium administrator

If a box stays empty and you do not know how to fill it, ask the sale delegate named in the notice of sale; for legal questions, ask a lawyer. Several boxes can be filled from the auction page. On ImmobilScan the notice of sale and the appraisal report open for free. With an account, document analysis flags rights, occupancy, violations and costs, together with the page it took them from. The official documents always prevail.