Sardinia attracts a particular kind of buyer: someone who has visited, fallen for the island, and decided that retirement here is not just a fantasy but a concrete plan. Properties have been browsed. Areas have been shortlisted. The intention is serious. And then the legal and administrative reality begins to appear.
Italian bureaucracy, an unfamiliar property law system, contracts in a language not fully understood, and an online market full of listings that answer aesthetic questions but leave legal ones untouched — this combination tends to make what should be a life-changing decision feel unnecessarily uncertain.
The role of independent legal assistance in this kind of purchase is not to complicate things. It is to simplify the right parts: to confirm what is safe, flag what is not, and help you move forward with a transaction that will still feel like a good decision ten years from now.
What Makes a Retirement Purchase Different
A buyer planning to retire to Sardinia has a different profile from an investor or a second-home buyer, and the legal needs reflect that difference.
You are not buying an asset to hold and resell in a few years. You are buying a home where you plan to live, perhaps full-time. That means that planning irregularities, structural problems, unreliable utilities, contested boundaries and access issues are not minor inconveniences — they are factors that affect the quality of daily life, not just the value of an investment.
For buyers coming from the United Kingdom, Australia, or other common-law jurisdictions, the Italian legal system for property transactions can also appear structured differently from what they know. In particular, the absence of a solicitor acting exclusively on the buyer’s side — which is standard in many legal systems — is a source of genuine confusion. In Italy, the notary who formalises the purchase is a public official with a neutral role; they verify the technical legality of the deed and register it, but they do not advise the buyer, review risks on their behalf, or negotiate terms.
This gap, the absence of a natural buyer-advocate in the standard Italian transaction process, is exactly where Govoni Law intervenes.
The Role of a Law Firm in Your Purchase
Govoni Law is a law firm. This means that the assistance we provide is regulated legal professional advice, structured and priced in accordance with the applicable ministerial parameters for legal fees in Italy. It is not a search service, a concierge, or a general assistance package — it is legal representation, in writing, by lawyers who are responsible for the advice they give.
This is relevant to know for two reasons.
First, it means the work is legally accountable. When we review a title, analyse a planning history, or advise you on whether a contract clause protects you or exposes you, that analysis is a professional legal opinion — not an informal observation or a quick check. It can be shared with your bank, your tax adviser, or your family as a documented basis for your decision.
Second, it means that our role is distinct from, and independent of, the role of any real estate agent involved in the transaction. Whether you find a property through our partner real estate agency, through another agency, through an online portal, or directly from a private owner, our legal assistance is available. We do not require you to use a particular agency, and our legal opinion on a property is not influenced by whether or not we are involved in the commercial side of the sale.
You choose how you search. We focus on the legal.
What We Check Before You Sign Anything
For buyers planning to relocate to Sardinia, we recommend a thorough legal due diligence before any commitment, offer, deposit, or preliminary contract, is signed.
In practice, this means we obtain and analyse the official records relevant to the property you are considering, and we explain what they mean in plain English.
The standard checks for a residential purchase include:
- Title and ownership history: who owns the property, on what legal basis, and whether there are any outstanding claims, co-ownership disputes, or unresolved inheritance matters in the property’s history
- Cadastral records: whether the legal description of the property in official records matches its physical reality — the floor plan, the boundaries, the accessory spaces
- Planning and building compliance: whether the property was built, extended or modified in accordance with valid permits, and whether any past works require or could obtain regularisation
- Encumbrances and mortgages: whether any loans, charges, or third-party rights are registered against the property
- Landscape and environmental restrictions: whether any coastal, landscape or environmental designations affect the present or future use of the property
- Condominium or consortile obligations: for apartments and gated developments, whether common charges are in order and whether the condominium rules present any unusual restrictions
The result of this review is a written report in English that summarises what has been found, identifies any open issues, and provides a clear recommendation on whether to proceed, renegotiate, or walk away.
Contracts, Offers and the Preliminary Agreement
Once due diligence is complete and you decide to proceed, the purchase moves through a series of contractual stages that are distinct from those in most common-law systems.
The first formal step is typically an offerta di acquisto or proposta di acquisto — a written offer that, if accepted by the seller, becomes a binding preliminary commitment. This is often the stage at which buyers from the UK or other English-speaking markets are most surprised: in Italy, a simple offer form can create genuine legal obligations before a preliminary contract has been signed, and before a notary has been involved at all.
The compromesso or contratto preliminare is the second stage: a more detailed document that fixes the price, describes the property, sets out the deadline for the final deed, and governs what happens if either party fails to comply. This is also the stage at which you typically pay a substantial deposit — normally between 10% and 20% of the agreed price — and it is the document that, if poorly drafted, exposes buyers to the most significant financial risk in the transaction.
We review or draft both the offer and the preliminary contract before they are signed, ensuring that the terms reflect the outcome of the legal due diligence, that any open issues are addressed, that the deposit is protected by appropriate conditions, and that you have a clear, written explanation of every clause that matters.
Managing the Purchase Remotely
Many buyers planning to retire to Sardinia begin the process from abroad — often a year or more before they intend to move — and are not able to be present at every stage of the transaction.
Govoni Law is structured for remote work.
All of our client communication, legal analysis and advice is provided in writing, in English, by email. We obtain documents from Italian public registries on your behalf, analyse them without requiring you to navigate the Italian system, and report to you clearly at each stage before you are asked to make any decision or any payment.
Where you cannot attend the final signing in person, we can coordinate the preparation of a procura notarile (power of attorney), allowing a trusted representative to sign the deed in Italy on your behalf after you have reviewed and approved the final document. The process is more manageable than it may initially appear, provided it is structured carefully and communicated clearly at every step.
The Codice Fiscale and Other Administrative Steps
Every property purchase in Italy requires the buyer to hold an Italian tax code — the codice fiscale — before the preliminary contract or final deed can be signed.
For EU citizens, this is straightforward to obtain. For non-EU citizens, the route depends on your situation: it may be possible through Italian consular offices in your country, or through a representative in Italy, but the specific procedure has become more regulated in recent years and should be planned early in the process.
We advise clients on how to obtain the tax code as part of the overall purchase structure, so that it is in place when it is needed — not discovered as a missing step at the last moment.
Citizenship by Descent and Residency
Some buyers planning to relocate to Sardinia are also investigating their eligibility for Italian citizenship, either by descent (jure sanguinis) or through residency.
This landscape has recently undergone its most significant reform in decades. Under Law No. 74/2025, which converted the so‑called “Tajani Decree” (Decree‑Law No. 36/2025) into ordinary legislation, Italy has introduced strict generational limits on citizenship by descent. For new applications submitted after 24 May 2025, eligibility is in practice restricted to individuals with at least one Italian parent or grandparent, with jure sanguinis no longer operating as an indefinitely transmissible right through distant ancestry. This represents a major shift from the previous, historically more open system of generational transmission.
Citizenship matters are a separate legal process from property purchase and involve different procedures, timelines and documentation requirements, whether the application is based on descent or on long‑term registered residency in Italy. In practice, owning a property in Sardinia does not by itself confer citizenship, but it can provide a stable basis for “residenza anagrafica” in the local municipality, which is often a necessary condition for residency‑based citizenship applications and for accessing local health services and taxation regimes.
Given the tighter restrictions imposed by the Tajani reform, early evaluation of your family lineage and residency plans is essential.
How to Start
If you are planning to retire to Sardinia and you are at the stage of identifying properties, comparing areas, or preparing for a first trip, contact us with the basic details of your situation.
We will confirm in writing what an initial legal review would cover for your specific case, what the relevant fees are, and what the next steps look like. You do not need to have a specific property in mind to begin the conversation.
Whether you have already been working with an estate agent, are using an online portal, or have not yet started searching, independent legal assistance is available and does not depend on how you find the property.
Govoni Law: No calls. No pressure. Just law, in writing, from wherever you are.
Lawyer Ph.D. Emmanuele Govoni
Email: govonilaw@gmail.com
Further Legal Resources for Your Move to Sardinia
If you are starting to plan your retirement in Sardinia, it is often helpful to explore a few specific legal topics in more detail before you commit to a property or a timeline.
On Govoni Law you will find:
- Buying Property in Sardinia – Legal Guide and On‑the‑Ground Support for Foreign Buyers
This guide walks through the full purchase process step by step, from the first offer to the notary deed, with a focus on title checks, planning issues and practical risks that are particularly relevant if you intend to live in the property rather than treat it purely as an investment. - Buying Property in Sardinia from Abroad – Remote Legal Assistance
Many retirement purchases start while the buyer is still working or living in another country. This page explains how legal due diligence, contract review and communication with agents and sellers can be handled entirely remotely, in English, with all advice in writing, so that you do not have to travel just to understand whether a property is legally safe. - Legal Due Diligence Before Buying Property in Sardinia, Italy
Here you will find a detailed description of what is examined during a due diligence: ownership history, planning and building compliance, encumbrances, co‑ownership rules and any elements that could affect your ability to use the property as a long‑term home in retirement. - Real Estate Legal Services in Sardinia for Foreign Buyers
This page summarises the main services offered by Govoni Law for international clients – from contract drafting and negotiation to assistance with inheritance issues, co‑ownership arrangements and the legal aspects of managing a property once you have moved. - FAQ: Property Finder and Buyer’s Agent in Sardinia
For buyers who are still at the stage of searching for the right property or area, the FAQ clarifies how a property finder or buyer’s agent works, how their role differs from that of a law firm, and how legal assistance interacts with commercial search services without creating conflicts of interest.
Each of these resources is designed for foreign buyers and written in plain English, so that you can build a coherent picture of the legal side of your retirement project before you make any binding decisions.