If you’re renting in Rome for the first time, you may be surprised to discover that Italian estate agents don’t just charge the landlord – they charge the tenant too. Their fees vary, but can be up to the equivalent of two months’ rent or more, once you’ve factored in VAT. That might come as a shock if you’re from a country where only the landlord has to pay.
Unfortunately, if the apartment you like is listed through an agency, the commission isn’t optional. So what should you expect from them as you go through the rental process?
It starts before the viewing
Your first contact with an agency will normally be a phone call, WhatsApp message or email about a particular property. Don’t be surprised if the agent starts asking questions before agreeing to a viewing. Who will be living in the property? What do you do for a living? How long do you want to stay? Do you have pets? When do you need the apartment?
It may seem intrusive at such an early stage, but they’re trying to establish whether you actually meet the landlord’s requirements, before spending everyone’s time on a viewing. So it’s your time they’re potentially saving, not just their own.
Either way, this is also your first opportunity to get a sense of the agency you’re dealing with. If they pick up the phone (or call you back if you left a message), that’s already a great sign. On the other hand, if it’s been a struggle just to get someone to acknowledge your existence, don’t necessarily expect communication to improve after you’ve seen the apartment.
The viewing
Viewings in Rome vary considerably. At one extreme, you’ll have an agent who gets there on time, gives you time and space to look around properly, answers your questions and is happy to find out anything they don’t know.
At the other, the agent’s running late and you’re hanging around with half a dozen other candidates waiting for them… Once they do arrive, they may even suggest you double up with another prospective tenant, so they can make up some lost time. And you’ll be in and out before you have a chance for more than a quick walk around.
There is a certain amount of logic to this. Agency commission is generally a percentage of the rent: a lower-priced property earns the agency less money than a more expensive one. So scheduling multiple appointments with a quick turnaround between them makes better economic sense than arranging leisurely individual viewings.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t ask questions. If you’re seriously considering the property, this is your opportunity to establish what’s included, what the condominium fees cover, how the utility changeover will be handled, whether anything will be repaired or removed before the tenancy begins, and anything else that could affect your decision.
A good agent won’t necessarily know every answer immediately. But they should be willing to find out.
You’ve decided you want it
This is where it all gets real. You’ll normally be asked to submit a written proposta di locazione – a formal rental offer – using the agency’s own template. Depending on the agency and your own location at the time, you might do this in the office or handle it entirely online. Either way, the agent will normally fill out the details, and you’ll just have to sign it.
The proposal will set out the basic terms of your offer. These will include the rent, proposed start date, required duration, and security deposit. You should also add any conditions you may have. Do you want the landlord to remove some personal effects, or install air conditioning? Does something need repairing before you move in? Are they OK with your cat? Do you want an early termination clause in the contract? Whatever your conditions, make sure they’re in your written offer. Otherwise, they won’t be binding.
Your offer should also include a deadline. Agencies often set this at around 7-10 days. I try to get that down to 3-5 days, to minimise your “down time” while you’re waiting to hear back.
If you get to this stage, you’ve got a good chance of getting the property you’re interested in. Agencies know their owners well, and will normally only put an offer forward if they’re reasonably sure it will be accepted. However…
Are you the only person making an offer?
This is another moment when you’ll get a feel for how good the agency is. In my experience, the better agencies only put forward one formal proposal at a time: they present it to the landlord and wait for a decision before allowing any other candidates to make an offer.
Sadly, they don’t all work that way. Some will collect two or more signed offers and present them simultaneously, effectively allowing the landlord to choose between applicants. And they won’t necessarily tell you they’ve done that – you’ll only find out that you weren’t actually the only candidate if you weren’t the successful candidate.
Likewise, while most agencies will stop arranging viewings when a formal offer comes in, not all of them do.
And then there’s the money
You may be asked to pay a sum of money (caparra) – generally one month’s rent, although it may be less – to demonstrate that your offer is serious. Traditionally, this is in the form of a cheque, although some agencies may also accept cash. They’re unlikely to accept a bank transfer at this stage. The reason is simple. This money is only forwarded to the owner if your offer is accepted: in the meantime, the agency holds onto it. If your offer is rejected, you’ll get it back.
Alternatively, if you haven’t yet arrived in Rome the agency may ask you to submit the signed proposal without handing over any money. In this case, you’ll probably have to pay the caparra as soon as the landlord has formally accepted your offer.
At this point, you will also be asked to sign a form undertaking to pay the agency’s commission: check carefully when they expect you to do this. I know of at least one agency in Rome that asks for their commission to be paid on the landlord’s acceptance of your offer. I don’t recommend you agree to this. If the lease later falls through, you’ve already handed over a substantial sum of money and may have to fight to get it back. It’s much fairer – as is standard practice with most agencies – to pay only after the contract has been signed by both parties. (A possible exception is if you’ve signed remotely and the agency wants you to pay their fee in lieu of the caparra: this is for legitimate reasons, but in any case check carefully how and when you’ll be reimbursed if the landlord then rejects your offer.)
The landlord says yes – or perhaps not quite
Once your offer reaches the landlord, there are three possibilities. They may accept it exactly as it stands. They may reject it outright. Or they may come back with a counter-proposal.
Perhaps they want a slightly higher rent, to cover any extra furnishings or white goods you’ve asked for. Maybe they don’t like your early termination clause. Or they might be happy to remove one piece of furniture but not another: the owners of a recent apartment I was involved with were willing to remove anything the tenants wanted, with the sole exception of a piano in the living room.
If the landlord does come back with a counter-offer, you can accept, try to keep negotiating or walk away. In any case, this is where a good agency really earns its commission: communication should move quickly, clearly and smoothly between the two sides until everyone knows exactly what has been agreed.
And exactly what has been agreed matters.
When the written agreement isn’t the real agreement
You might think that going through an agency will protect you from dodgy landlords, and usually that’s true. However, occasionally, the agent might tell you that something will be agreed one way privately, but written differently in the contract. Perhaps the contract will say the €1800 you’re paying the landlord breaks down as €1300 rent plus €500 to cover costs such as condominium fees, utilities and so on. But the verbal agreement is that these costs are not included in that €1800 – you’ll have to pay them on top. The reason for this, to put it nicely, is to reduce the tax burden for the landlord. To put it bluntly, it’s tax evasion.
So should you agree? My advice is “no”. However, you would be committing no offence if you did – it’s the landlord who’s breaking the law, not you. And under Italian law, you may even have the right to claim back from the landlord any excess rent disguised as other charges.
In any case, the safest course is to ensure that the written contract accurately reflects the verbal agreement.
From the accepted offer to the contract
Once the terms have been agreed, the next stage is the lease itself. Again, this is usually based on the agency’s own template for the contract type in question, with the relevant details added. The agency prepares the contract, sends the draft to both parties and relays any questions or requested amendments between landlord and tenant.
This is the time to compare the contract carefully with what you actually agreed. If the landlord agreed to remove the sofa, has that been reflected? Is the agreed security deposit correct? Have they added your special termination clause? Is there anything in the contract that wasn’t mentioned previously?
Don’t assume that anything particularly important in the proposal has automatically made its way into the contract: always check.
Good agencies will be very responsive at this stage. They’ll answer questions, go back to the landlord and allow time for you to review the contract – and revise it, if necessary.
Signing the contract
Once the final wording has been agreed, the contract can be signed. Traditionally this takes place in the agency’s office. The agent reads the contract out clause by clause and makes any necessary last-minute revisions, then the landlord and tenant sign it together. However, if the landlord and agency agree, you may be able to sign it remotely.
But while there’s often no real need for everyone to be physically present in the same room, there is usually quite a lot of money moving around at this point.
Depending on what you’ve already paid, you’ll generally need to transfer the security deposit and first month’s rent + condominium fee to the landlord. (If you have already paid a caparra, this will normally become part or all of the first month’s rent.)
You’ll also need to pay the agency commission, usually plus 22% VAT. (As noted above, it’s not advisable to pay the agency fee any earlier than this stage.)
These payments are generally made by bank transfer.
There may also be costs associated with registration of the contract, depending on the type of lease and the landlord’s tax regime. If the landlord has opted for the cedolare secca, for example, the ordinary registration tax is not payable.
A well-organised agency should tell you in advance exactly how much needs to be paid, when it needs to be paid and – importantly – who each payment is going to. Given the money involved, their job includes making sure you understand what is going on at every stage of the process, to minimise your stress levels.
And finally: the keys
If the tenancy starts on the day you sign, you may receive the keys there and then. If it begins later, the handover will usually be arranged separately. Either way, you should have the opportunity to inspect the apartment alongside the agent and/or landlord before signing an inventory of its contents.
By this point the agency’s role in the transaction is largely complete. From the first enquiry and viewing through to the proposal, negotiations and contract, you’ve reached the point where the apartment is actually yours to move into.
The experience can vary enormously from one agency to another. Some are organised, proactive and extremely helpful. Others need to be double-checked and chased up every step of the way.
And the name over the door isn’t always a reliable guide to which kind you’re dealing with.
If this all seems like too much to take in, don’t despair! At Helpmate Rome I can guide you through every step of the process and explain exactly what’s going on and what you’re signing, so you can move into your new home with confidence. Don’t delay – contact me today!
Disclaimer
Please note the above information is shared in good faith but is not intended and should not be construed as legal advice, and might not reflect current Italian law. I recommend consulting a lawyer for any legal or contractual concerns you may have.