Selling a rented home in Trieste: with the tenant or vacant

You can sell a rented home in Trieste whenever you like, but a registered lease does not end with the sale: the buyer takes over the rent, the deposit and the expiry dates (Civil Code, arts 1599 and 1602). To get the flat back before the second expiry you need either an agreement with the tenant or a notice to sell (disdetta per vendita) at the first one: at least 6 months ahead, and only if, besides this one, you own at most the home you live in. The tenant then has the right to buy first.

At a glance

• The lease survives, if it has a certain date (data certa) earlier than the sale: registration gives it one (Civil Code, arts 1599 and 2704).
• The tenant's right of first refusal (prelazione) on a home arises by law only with a notice to sell: it is served by a court bailiff (ufficiale giudiziario), and the tenant has 60 days to answer.
• The rent sets the price: in the example, €500 a month is worth €120,000 to a buyer who wants a 5% gross yield; vacant, the same flat sits between €108,000 and €138,000 (OMI).

What passes to the buyer, and what stays with you

From the day of purchase the buyer steps into the rights and obligations of the lease (art. 1602): they collect the rent, respect the expiry dates and return the deposit when the lease ends.

• Rent that fell due before the sale remains a debt owed to you, paid or not.
• The month of the deed (rogito) is split by days: rent is a civil fruit, earned day by day (Civil Code, arts 820 and 821). Trieste custom has it paid in advance by the 5th (Raccolta degli usi, art. 55): if you have collected it, the days after the deed belong to the buyer.
• The deposit, at most three months' rent, earns statutory interest, paid to the tenant every year (Law 392/1978, art. 11): 1.60% in 2026. How it passes to the buyer, you write into the deed.
• In Trieste the owner is whoever is entered in the land register (Libro fondiario) (R.D. 499/1929, art. 2), and the entry follows the deed: the deed should fix the day from which rent and charges belong to the buyer.

The three routes

With the tenant in place

This is the quickest, but the only buyers are those after an income or who want the flat later. They too can claim first-home relief (prima casa), which requires residence in the municipality within 18 months, not a vacant home (Agenzia delle Entrate).

Here the tenant has no statutory right of first refusal: articles 38 and 39 of Law 392/1978 apply to property «adibiti ad uso diverso da quello di abitazione», used for purposes other than housing, and for homes only the notice to sell brings them in. A right of first refusal written into the lease, on the other hand, is binding (Civil Code, art. 1372).

With a notice to sell

At the first expiry, after 4 years in a 4+4 and 3 in a 3+2, you can refuse renewal «quando il locatore intenda vendere l'immobile a terzi», when the landlord intends to sell to a third party, and, aside from their own home, owns no other residential property (Law 431/1998, art. 3, letter g).

• Form: at least 6 months ahead, stating the reason, on pain of nullity (art. 3, para. 2), by a means that proves the date it arrived.
• If the tenant stays: you need the court (art. 3, para. 4). In 2025, in the municipality of Trieste alone, eviction orders for end of lease numbered 112 (Ministry of the Interior).
• If you then don't sell: if, within 12 months of the flat becoming free, it is not put to the use you declared, the tenant chooses between moving back in on the same terms and damages of no less than 36 times the last monthly rent (art. 3, paras 3 and 5). Whether putting it on the market is enough, the law does not say: the safe course is to complete the sale within the year.

With an exit agreement

A lease can also be ended by mutual consent (Civil Code, art. 1372), perhaps with a payment that no rule sets. It must be reported to the Agenzia on form RLI (modello RLI) within 30 days, with €67 of registration tax, nothing if every landlord has chosen the cedolare secca (the flat-rate tax). On the payment itself the registration tax is proportional (DPR 131/1986, art. 28).

If on the day the tenant does not leave, a private agreement between you is not enough: forced eviction requires a court order, a deed received by a notary (Code of Civil Procedure, art. 474) or a mediation agreement also signed by the lawyers (Legislative Decree 28/2010, art. 12). Pay the sum when you get the keys back.

The tenant's right of first refusal: how it is served

1. You serve on the tenant, through a court bailiff, the price in money, the other terms and an invitation to say whether they will buy (Law 392/1978, art. 38).
2. The tenant answers within 60 days, served the same way.
3. If they buy, they pay within 30 days counted from the sixtieth day, at the deed or the preliminary contract (from offer to deed).

First refusal does not apply if you sell to your spouse or a relative within the second degree. If you do not serve notice, or the deed shows a lower price, the tenant can buy the home back from whoever bought it (riscatto) within six months of transcription (art. 39), which in Trieste means entry in the Libro fondiario (R.D. 499/1929, art. 12).

Viewings and the listing

• Concordato leases (3+2, transitional, students): the model contracts of the ministerial decree of 16/01/2017 provide, if you want to sell, one viewing a week of at least two hours, public holidays excluded, or whatever the lease says.
• Open-market 4+4: the lease decides; if it is silent, custom applies (Civil Code, art. 1374). In Trieste the tenant lets people view on working days, at agreed times, if they carry a letter of introduction (Raccolta degli usi, art. 56).
• The energy certificate (APE) drawn up for the letting also serves for the sale and the listing (Legislative Decree 192/2005, art. 6), for up to 10 years; it lapses if the boiler checks are skipped, and in the concordato model contracts, with independent heating, those fall to the tenant.

The extra documents

On top of the list for every sale: the registered lease and receipt, with any choice of the flat-rate tax; for a concordato lease signed without the associations, the certificate (attestazione) from a signatory organisation (same decree, art. 1, para. 8); the check-in report with photos, which will decide what can be withheld (Civil Code, art. 1590); the deposit receipt; rent and charges still to be settled; the boiler logbook.

The price: buyers think in yields

How much less a rented home is worth is shown neither by the OMI values nor by the Banca d'Italia survey: they do not separate vacant homes from occupied ones.

A buy-to-let buyer divides a year's rent by the price. On the OMI's 2026 first-half values, at the middle of the range, a standard home yields 4.7% gross in the urban centre (zone B1) and 4.1% in San Giacomo and Servola (zone C2). With a rent that is low for the area, the price drops until it reaches the yield the buyer is after.

Worked example: a one-bedroom flat in the centre at €500 a month

Example. 60 m² gross in zone B1, standard home; a 4+4 lease from 1 February 2024 at €500 a month, cadastral income (rendita catastale) of €420; the owner owns only this flat and the home they live in. These are assumptions.

Step	Sum	Result
Vacant: OMI range	60 m² × €1,800 and × €2,300/m²	€108,000–138,000
Let, at 5% or 6% gross	€6,000 a year ÷ 5% or ÷ 6%	€120,000 or €100,000
Buyer's flat-rate tax	€6,000 × 21%	€1,260
ILIA	€420 × 1.05 × 160 × 1.06%	€747.94
Owner's costs (assumption)	—	€400
Net for one year	6,000 − 1,260 − 747.94 − 400	€3,592.06
Purchase taxes	9% of €420 × 1.05 × 120, plus €100	€4,862.80
Net yield at €120,000	3,592.06 ÷ 124,862.80	2.9%

The 5% gross becomes 2.9% net, before the notary and any empty months. The routes:

• with the tenant: deed straight away, at the price that €500 a month supports;
• with the notice: first expiry on 31 January 2028, notice in the tenant's hands by 31 July 2027, then the price served on the tenant and a vacant sale; with no deed within 12 months you risk the tenant's return or at least €18,000 (36 × 500);
• with an agreement: from the agreed date, at the vacant price minus the payment.

The type of lease: what changes when you sell

Lease	Can you get it back to sell?	When, with what notice	What passes to the buyer
Open-market 4+4	at the first expiry, if besides this one you own at most your home; with first refusal	at 4 years, with the reason, at least 6 months ahead	lease, rent, deposit; flat-rate tax at 21%
4+4, second expiry	yes, no reason, no first refusal	at 8 years, by registered letter sent 6 or more months before (art. 2)	the lease up to that date
3+2 concordato	as the 4+4, at 3 years; at 5, no reason	at least 6 months ahead	flat-rate tax at 10%; the rent remains capped by the local agreement; ILIA reduced to 75%
Transitional (up to 18 months)	no: it ends by itself	at expiry	the lease until it expires
Students (6 to 36 months)	no: it renews at the first expiry if the student does not cancel 1 to 3 months before	—	the lease and its renewal

For transitional leases, Trieste's 2025 local agreement does not list selling among the landlord's needs, apart from the open item of an «evento certo e a data prefissata», a certain event with a fixed date.

Taxes, for you and for the buyer

• You: ILIA up to the month of the deed, in Trieste 1.06% on an open-market lease, 0.70% if it is the home you have named on the regional ILIA portal as your «prima seconda casa»; on a concordato lease 0.65%, reduced to 75% (Comune di Trieste, 2026 rates). If you sell within five years of buying, the capital gain (plusvalenza) is as a rule taxed (TUIR, art. 67): see the cost of selling.
• The buyer: registration tax of 9% on the cadastral value, 2% with first-home relief (the buyer's taxes). They choose the flat-rate tax within 30 days of taking over, on form RLI, after a registered letter to the tenant waiving rent increases; on a concordato lease it is 10%, because Trieste is a provincial capital (Legislative Decree 23/2011, art. 3). Taking over (subentro) pays no tax; the Agenzia delle Entrate advises reporting it.

Frequently asked questions

Can you sell a home in Trieste with the tenant still in it?

Yes, at any time: the registered lease passes to the buyer with rent, deposit and expiry dates (Civil Code, arts 1599 and 1602). The tenant has no right of first refusal unless you agreed one in writing.

Does the tenant have a right of first refusal if I sell my home in Trieste?

By law, only if, at the first expiry, you refused renewal in order to sell: then you serve price and terms on them, and they have 60 days to buy on the same terms.

Notice to sell a rented flat in Trieste: how does it work?

At the first expiry (4 years in a 4+4, 3 in a 3+2), if besides this one you own at most the home you live in: at least 6 months ahead, with the reason in writing. If you do not sell within 12 months, the tenant can move back in or claim at least 36 months' rent.

Is a rented home in Trieste worth less?

It depends on the rent: in the example, €500 a month supports €120,000 at a 5% gross yield, against €108,000–138,000 for the vacant flat.

Does the buyer of a rented home in Trieste take over the lease?

Yes, from the day of purchase (Civil Code, art. 1602); they can choose the flat-rate tax within 30 days.

What to do now

• Find the lease and its receipt; mark the first expiry and, 6 months before it, the last day for notice.
• Count the other homes you own besides the one you live in: for a notice to sell, there must be none.
• Compare the price the rent supports with what the home is worth vacant.

What this guide doesn't tell you

It does not cover shops and offices, listed buildings or homes in cadastral class A/8, A/9 or A/1, which outside the concordato follow the Civil Code alone (Law 431/1998, art. 1), tenants in arrears, short lets or inheritances (selling an inherited home). On the notice and the agreement a lawyer decides; on first refusal and the deed, the notary; on tax, the accountant.

If you sell with us. Before your home goes on sale we check the cadastral extract, floor plan, energy certificate, land register and building charges, and tell you what is missing and who can provide it. We give you an explained price range and email you about every viewing booked; if you prefer discretion, the home can stay off the portals. Tell us about your home.

A guide to inform, not legal or tax advice: notary, lawyer and accountant have the final word. For your own case: info@triesteimmobiliare.com · +39 331 8940822.