You may agree to early availability of the money, but first assess the payment terms, outstanding conditions and dependence on the seller’s next purchase. A promise to repay is not the same as keeping funds available. Before signing or changing the arrangement, establish when the money can be released, what happens if either transaction fails and when your property must be delivered.
| Seller’s request | Documents to review | What could go wrong | Before agreeing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Immediate use of the deposit | Offer, acceptance and payment provisions | Funds are spent while your checks remain unresolved | Align release with the contractual conditions |
| A larger payment for the next purchase | Revised payment schedule and explanation | Your exposure increases without equivalent protection | Assess the amount and structure |
| Completion depends on another transaction | Proposed dependency and deadlines | Your purchase becomes open-ended | Decide which risks you accept |
| Later delivery of the keys | Offer, preliminary and handover terms | Payment, ownership and possession occur at different times | Agree the dates and consequences |
First establish what is actually being requested
The seller may be asking for:
- A payment earlier than agreed.
- Release of money already held by another person.
- An increase in the deposit.
- Removal of a condition preventing release.
- An extension because the next home is not ready.
These are different changes.
Ask for the proposal in writing and compare it with the complete agreement. If the existing terms already provide for direct payment to the seller, the situation differs from a request to release funds held pending checks.
The fact that the seller needs the money explains the request. It does not determine whether the arrangement is appropriate for the buyer.
Can the seller use a caparra once received?
Do not assume that a payment remains ring-fenced because the contract calls it a deposit.
A caparra confirmatoria, a contractual deposit with specific consequences on default, is not automatically a protected holding arrangement.
Where the agreed structure makes the money available to the seller, the buyer should not assume it will remain untouched or immediately available for repayment.
If a relevant seller default occurs, Article 1385 may allow the buyer to withdraw and demand double the caparra. The appropriate remedy depends on the circumstances. That entitlement does not ensure the seller has sufficient readily available funds.
For the wider distinction, read Caparra vs Deposit When Buying Property in Italy.
What if your checks or mortgage approval are still outstanding?
A condition and a release mechanism must be read together.
An offer may address an outstanding investigation while another provision allows immediate transfer of the payment. If repayment later becomes due, the money may already have been committed elsewhere.
Before agreeing to release, establish:
- Which conditions remain unresolved.
- Whether the proposed payment is consistent with them.
- What event permits release.
- Who verifies that event.
- What happens if a condition is not satisfied.
- How repayment is to operate.
The seller’s deadline for paying another owner does not itself satisfy your mortgage condition or complete your property investigation.
If the parties want to change the arrangement, they should address the legal and practical consequences rather than treat release as a minor administrative step.
Does the seller’s next purchase become your risk?
Not automatically. The agreement determines which dependencies the parties accept.
Ask whether the seller is promising to complete and deliver your property by a fixed date, or proposing that their obligation depends on acquiring another home.
Those are materially different bargains.
| Proposed arrangement | Question for the buyer |
|---|---|
| Seller completes regardless of their next purchase | Is the delivery commitment workable and adequately documented? |
| Completion depends on a specified next acquisition | What exactly is the condition and its deadline? |
| Seller can extend while searching | Is the resulting uncertainty acceptable? |
| Seller completes but remains temporarily | What protects the agreed possession date? |
“The seller will leave when their new home is ready” is not a clear completion and handover plan.
If a dependency is accepted, define it carefully. Do not assume that every delay elsewhere in the chain automatically extends your agreement.
Separate money, completion and possession
Identify three dates or events:
- When the seller can use your initial payment.
- When the final deed and balance payment are due.
- When the property must be delivered in the agreed condition.
The seller may need funds now but still be able to deliver at completion. Alternatively, they may also request a later move-out date.
Do not allow one concession to imply another.
For example, agreeing to early payment should not silently become agreement to an indefinite stay. Similarly, agreeing to delayed handover does not explain how the earlier deposit is protected.
If post-completion occupation is proposed, read The Seller Wants to Keep Living in the Property After Closing.
Which alternatives should you assess?
There is no single payment structure suitable for every transaction.
Depending on the circumstances, the parties may discuss:
- A different amount or payment timetable.
- Keeping funds with an appropriate holder until defined requirements are met.
- Release in agreed stages.
- Completion dates coordinated with the seller’s arrangements.
- A fixed vacant-handover commitment.
- Additional protection appropriate to the exposure.
A holding arrangement cannot simultaneously make the same funds freely available to the seller. The parties need to confront that commercial choice.
Where a notarial arrangement is considered, establish availability, costs, instructions and release conditions with the notary before relying on it. Do not assume an agent’s account or an informal promise provides equivalent protection.
Also consider whether transcription of the preliminary contract is appropriate. Its legal protections are different from custody of the money and require the relevant notarial assessment.
Is a larger deposit safer because the seller risks double repayment?
Not necessarily.
A larger caparra may increase the amount involved in the statutory remedy, but it also increases the money paid before completion.
Do not assess the arrangement solely by the amount that could be claimed after default. Consider:
- The stage of the property investigation.
- Existing conditions.
- The amount already exposed.
- Available safeguards.
- The practical consequences if repayment is disputed or unavailable.
The correct decision is not simply “larger caparra means more protection”.
What should the agreement address?
Where early availability is proposed, review the whole transaction rather than add a sentence authorising release.
Relevant provisions may need to address:
- The legal nature and amount of the payment.
- Recipient, holder and release mechanism.
- The event permitting release.
- Conditions that remain effective.
- The role, if any, of the seller’s next acquisition.
- Final deadlines and any agreed extension process.
- Completion and possession.
- Consequences if a condition fails or an obligation is breached.
- Repayment arrangements.
- Any additional protection expressly agreed.
If money is currently held by an agent or notary, the holder’s instructions must also be consistent with the purchase agreement.
A reference to the seller’s intended use should not be confused with security for repayment.
If you have already signed, establish what the existing terms require before refusing a payment or instructing a holder not to release it.
An illustrative purchase near Florence
A couple from Rotterdam agrees to buy a home near Florence. The proposed arrangement keeps the initial payment with a holder while defined property checks are completed.
Before those checks finish, the seller asks for release because a payment is due on their next home.
The couple’s lawyer compares the request with the conditions and holder’s instructions. The buyers establish that the proposed release would give the seller access to money that may still need to be returned.
The parties discuss a revised timetable and other arrangements. Any change is documented alongside the conditions, final completion date and vacant-handover requirement.
The buyers do not assume that a promise of double repayment provides the same protection as money remaining available.
This is a hypothetical example, not a client case.
Send these six items before agreeing
- The complete offer, acceptance and preliminary contract, if any.
- The payment clause and evidence of sums already paid.
- Any holding or release instructions.
- The seller’s written request and proposed deadline.
- The outstanding checks, financing conditions and documents.
- The proposed completion and possession dates.
State whether the request changes an existing agreement or forms part of the initial negotiation.
How Govoni Law helps
For more than 16 years, our lawyers have assisted foreign property buyers throughout Italy. We act only on the buyer’s side.
We can review the payment structure, outstanding conditions, proposed dependency and handover terms, and explain what the seller’s request changes.
- Before You Sign Brief: initial orientation on the material supplied. It does not establish repayment security or provide a complete revised agreement.
- Light Due Diligence: substantive review of a genuinely defined contractual issue.
- Full Legal Due Diligence: wider investigation where payment, title, property and transaction risks interact.
Drafting, negotiation and coordination of a payment arrangement must be expressly agreed. Our legal appointment does not itself establish a client-money holding service.
We do not sell or find property, arrange finance for the seller, provide tax advice, conduct technical surveys or obtain visas. We do not guarantee repayment, completion, regularisation or authorisations.
Frequently asked questions
Is it unlawful for the seller to need my deposit for another purchase?
Not simply because they have that need. Assess the agreed payment structure and the risks created by making the money available.
Must a caparra remain untouched until the deed?
Do not assume that. Its legal classification does not automatically create segregated custody.
Does the right to double the caparra guarantee recovery?
No. Entitlement under the applicable remedy and practical recovery are separate questions.
Does the seller’s failed purchase automatically cancel ours?
Not necessarily. Review whether the agreements are legally linked and what the relevant terms provide.
Can the notary automatically hold every advance payment?
No automatic arrangement should be assumed. Discuss the appropriate structure, instructions and costs before agreeing the payment.
Does early release mean I have agreed to later handover?
The agreement should keep those matters distinct. Do not leave their relationship to assumption.
What if the seller asks after I have signed?
Compare the request with the existing obligations and holding instructions before agreeing or refusing.
If the seller needs your deposit to fund another home, send Govoni Law the signed documents or draft offer, release request and proposed timetable before changing the payment arrangement. Include the outstanding checks and the date by which you need possession.
We will do our best to reply to your request as soon as possible.