What to say at an Italian flat viewing (visita)

The listing is on Immobiliare or Idealista. They want to know if you can pay the cauzione and whether the contratto will be registered. The visit itself is twenty minutes with a stranger who will decide, in the kitchen, whether you look like someone who stays.

The Italian housing phrase page has the short lines for the door. This is the rest: the message that books the visita, the spese that are not the rent, and the three-month cap in legge 392/1978, articolo 11. Rome in June is the same conversation as Milan, with a different intercom.

The message that gets you a visita

An Italian ad is a code. Bilocale is two rooms. Trilocale is three. Spese escluse means the condominio is on top. Arredato is furnished; non arredato is not. Quarto piano senza ascensore is the walk.

A message that works:

Buongiorno, ho visto l’annuncio per l’appartamento in [quartiere]. È ancora disponibile? Vorrei fissare una visita. Sono [nome], arrivo a Roma a giugno. Grazie.

È ancora disponibile? and Posso vedere l’appartamento questo pomeriggio? are already on the housing page. Use Lei. Hai un buco stasera? is the wrong register.

What you actually ask in the flat

They will say Prego, le faccio vedere. You say Grazie and you walk.

• Le spese sono incluse?
• Quanto è la cauzione?
• Quando potrei entrare?
• L’appartamento è arredato?
• Quanto si paga di condominio al mese?
• Il contratto viene registrato all’Agenzia delle Entrate?
• Posso fare la residenza qui? — if they say no, this flat cannot do the anagrafe.

C’è umidità in bagno is already on the housing page. Point, name it, take a photo. Ask luce, gas, acqua, internet by name. Spese incluse is often just the condominio, not the meters.

Money words that are different in Italy

La cauzione (or deposito cauzionale) may not exceed three months of canone. The same article says it earns legal interest each year. A landlord who wants six months is using a number the statute does not give them.

The contract has to be registered. The Agenzia delle Entrate collects the tax unless the landlord chooses cedolare secca. An unregistered lease is a problem for you and for them. Ask Il contratto è 4+4 o transitorio? A tourist transitorio will not carry a residenza.

Other words that show up the day you sign:

• la caparra — booking money. Do not send it to a stranger who will not meet you at the building.
• le spese condominiali — the building. Heating can sit inside or outside.
• il preavviso — notice when you want to leave.
• Il contratto è di un anno? — get the type, not a shrug.

If you want it: Mi interessa. Quali sono i prossimi passi? If you do not: Grazie per la visita. Ci penso. You do not owe them a speech about the damp.