After having obtained your Italian Tax Code, it is time to do some house tours to choose your future dream home. Once you have found a property you would like to call home, with the help of your Relocation Associate, you will go through some steps that will make it possible to secure a house in time. Follow this quick guide to be prepared!
The Lease Agreement Process starts with the Lease Proposal. This is an official document with which the Tenant formally requests the Landlord to rent the property they are interested in. This step is crucial, since it is the moment in which the Tenant can present some specific requests to the Landlord, such as remove/add furniture, paint the property, etc. The standard is that the Lease Proposal is valid for 5 days, so the Landlord must reply in time to the potential Tenant’s proposal otherwise the latter will cease to be valid. Together with the proposal, the Tenant must pay a deposit – usually 1 month of the rent fee – as a retainer to hold the property. Once the Landlord receives the proposal, they can either:
- accept the proposal (the retainer will be kept by the Landlord and then deducted from the total amount required to be paid to complete the lease process),
- decline the proposal (the retainer will be returned, and the lease process will terminate),
- submit a counterproposal until a final agreement is reached between the parties.
Remember! Should the Landlord accept your proposal, but the Tenant decide not to go ahead with the lease agreement, the retainer will be in any case kept by the Landlord and the lease process will terminate.
In some cases, the Lease Proposal is not a necessary step – sometimes the lease process stars directly with the Lease Agreement.
Your Relocation Associate will take care of negotiating the lease terms and conditions on your behalf. The Lease Agreement draft can be provided either from the realtor/Landlord or the Relocation Associate will draft the Lease Agreement – in any case your Relocation Associate will check all the details, and they will provide to you both the Italian version and the attached English Synopsis with an extended summary of the Lease Agreement.
In the following article we will talk about the main types of Lease Agreement you could encounter during your home search.
Once the Lease Agreement is signed by both parties, certain initial payments must be made (regardless of when the tenancy will start), which are: security deposit, first month of the rent fee, first month of the condominium fee (if applicable), lease registration fees and the real estate agency commission.
After the payment of the aforementioned fees have been received by the Landlord, it is time for the check-in inspection. You will be accompanied by your Local Counselor from Principal Relocation, and there will be both the Landlord (or someone representing them) and the Realtor. This is a crucial step since it is the moment in which the conditions of the property must be checked so that any items not working properly can be flagged to the Landlord (which the landlord can correct or just take notice) and those items cannot be attributed to the Tenant at the end of the tenancy. During the inspection, your Local Counselor will document the status of the property in a Check-in Report, take note & pictures of the meters readings (useful for the utility contracts that will be transferred to the Tenant’s name) and also make note of any on-the-spot agreements that the Landlord and Tenant discuss at the Check-In.
Once you enter the house, typical custom is that you have 15 days to refer any damage or possible problems that were not mentioned and pointed out during the check-in inspection.
Remember! This time and action is not to ask the landlord to re-do the property but just to discuss any equipment or systems that are not working properly so the landlord can address them appropriately.
Once the inspection has been completed, all participants will sign the Check-In Report which the Tenant & Landlord can utilize as a main reference in the future check-out inspection.
Are you ready for this new adventure? Principal is here to make sure to support you in renting and moving into your new home!
