Responsible Agency

1. Which agency/government body/authority is responsible for land registration?

From the 1st December 2012 Agenzia delle Entrate (the Italian Revenue Agency) has incorporated Agenzia del Territorio(the Cadastral and Land Registry Agency), as provided for in Article 23 quater of Decree-Law number 95 of 2012.

2. If the responsibility for property registration is dealt with by an agency/authority, to which government department is it responsible to?

Agenzia delle Entrate is a non-economic public body supervised by the Minister of Economy and Finance.

3. How is the organization managed?

The Agency is managed by the Director, the Executive Committee and the Board of Auditors. All these authorities are appointed for a three-year period.

4. Describe the organisational framework:

The land registries are organised on a territorial basis. There are 138 offices all over the national territory, except for the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano, where the Land book system applies. Each land registry office has an exclusive competence provided by law. All the registrations go directly to a centralised database.

5. How is the agency/government body/authority funded?

The Agency is financed through funds coming from the budget of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The relations between the Ministry and the Agency are ruled through a three-year agreement, with adjustments for each financial year, stating the services to be provided, the objectives to be achieved and the financial and human resources needed.

6. Are the staff of the agency/government, department/authority civil servants?

The staff of the Agency are civil servants.

• If so are staff permanent or a combination of permanent/temporary positions?

The staff is mainly permanent.

• Who has the responsibility for hiring of staff to be assigned? Is it through a central Government recruitment agency or hired directly by the agency/authority according to demand for services?

The recruitment of all civil servants is performed through a public contest. In special cases, mainly for high level positions, the Agency can use a direct recruitment procedure.

• Are any of the land registration services contracted out? If yes, please state which services and type of service provider.

No, they aren’t.

7. Who is responsible for cadastral/mapping information? Is it the same organisation or a separate agency/department?

The same Agency is responsible for cadastral and mapping information.

8. What are the principal functions of the registering department/agency/authority?

As a consequence of the incorporation, Agenzia delle Entrate added to its original competences concerning the management of fiscal revenues, the following:

• management of cadastral and mapping services;
• management of the land registries;
• management of the real estate market monitoring system.

9. What are the key values/principles underpinning registration of title in your system?

The key principles are the following:

• the principle of exceptionability, meaning that deeds transferring title to property may produce effects on third parties only if they are transcribed;
• the principle of the continuity of transcriptions, meaning that the purchaser of a property is kept safe against possible exceptions by third parties only if the Register keeps continuous record of transcriptions that start with the purchase at hand and go backwards in time to track the original purchase of the property.

10. What registration system of property do you have in your country (title/deed)?

In Italy there are two different registration systems:

• the main system is a register of deeds, in force in the largest part of the national territory;
• in some small areas in the north-eastern regions a register of title by parcel identifier is in force.