How to Find the Owner of a Property

How do you know who is the property owner?

You wish to buy a specific property but you do not know to whom to speak?

In Italy each property is registered in an appropriate local register, called “Registro Catastale” (“Cadastral Registry” or parcel registry).

This is a property registry which is focused on ownership and title, and it shows the exact geographic location of the property.

How to start your search?

It depends on the information at your disposal.

• You know the address but you do not know the name of the owner(s)
• You know the cadastral details of the property but you do not know the name of the owner(s)
• You are able to identify the property through web mapping tools, but you do not know the exact address of the property

Depending on information known to you, your search methodology will be different.

If you know the address of the property but not the name of the owner, your search might be fairly straightforward as long as the property is not part of a condominium. In case of the latter, you may need to provide further information on the intended use of the property (i.e. commercial use, home use, warehouse, etc.). as well as the floor on which the property is located. If there is more than one property on the same floor, further information will be required to precisely identify the property of interest.

If you know the cadastral details of the property but you do not know the name of the owner(s), the search criteria for both city and agricultural properties requires you to know the city or town (Municipality) associated with the property that you are searching, as well as the specific Property Registry identifiers known as Folio, Parcel and Sub.

• Folio (Foglio): describes the area in the map where the property is located;
• Parcel (Particella): identifies the property;
• Sub (Subalterno): in case where there are several properties at the same address, the “Sub” identifies the specific one that you are searching.

You do not have the address but you can locate the property on a web-based map search, such as Google Maps

If you have been in the area or address where the property is located, you might be able to recognize it through a web map search. Tools such as Google Maps or Google Earth, etc., are helpful resources for finding the property you seek, if you know how to use them effectively. It is recommended to enlist a professional who regularly deals with property transactions.

Luxury Law regularly deals with property transaction on a daily basis, and is able to provide you with an accurate property search.

If you wish to receive our assistance, simply contact us for a free consultation.