Estate agency commission in Italy: how much, when it is owed, and who pays

More legend circulates about agency commission than fact. The governing text is short and takes a minute to read.

What the Civil Code says

Article 1755 of the Italian Civil Code establishes that the intermediary is entitled to a commission from each of the parties, if the deal is concluded as a result of their intervention. It adds that the amount, and the proportion each party bears, are — absent agreement, professional tariffs or custom — set by a judge on equitable grounds.

Two consequences surprise almost everyone.

First: both seller and buyer pay. That is not agency rudeness, it is the structure of the brokerage contract. The intermediary works to bring two parties together and is owed by both, unless agreed otherwise — and it is precisely by agreeing otherwise that TriesteImmobiliare zeroes the seller's side on mandates signed by September 2026.

Second: the percentage is not set by law. There is no statutory minimum or maximum. Italian market practice runs between 2% and 4% plus VAT per side, varying by city, price bracket and service.

When the right arises

At the conclusion of the deal, not at the deed. In a property sale, the deal concludes when the purchase offer is accepted and the acceptance is communicated: from that moment a contract exists between the parties.

This is what generates most disputes. If the transaction stalls after acceptance — the buyer's mortgage falls through, the seller has second thoughts — the agent's right has in principle already arisen. In practice many mandates tie payment to the preliminary contract or the deed: those clauses work in your favour, and they are worth reading.

The reverse holds too: commission is owed where the deal is concluded as a result of the intermediary's work. Showing the property once is not enough if the parties then found each other entirely independently — although the courts are strict in recognising the causal link even when the parties handled the final stretch themselves.

Who may charge it

Only a licensed, properly registered intermediary. Anyone else is entitled to nothing. It is a thirty-second check that almost nobody performs.

Four clauses to read in the mandate

1. Duration. Three months, six, a year: knowing when it ends is the baseline.
2. Automatic renewal. This binds for longer than people expect. If it is there, know when and how to give notice.
3. Exclusivity. Not a bad thing in itself — an exclusive agent invests more. But it should come with a sensible duration and concrete commitments.
4. When and how you pay. On acceptance, at the preliminary contract, or at the deed. Amount, VAT, any extra charges: if it is not written down, it does not exist.

Our model, stated plainly

TriesteImmobiliare works on residential property in Trieste and its province with a plain three-month mandate, a valuation within 48 hours, the property online within 7 days and — on mandates signed by September 2026 — 0% charged to the seller. That is a time-limited condition: if you are reading this later, ask what applies now.

This is an informative guide, not legal advice: every mandate differs and the case law here is extensive. For your own case write to info@triesteimmobiliare.com or call +39 040 2473628.