Immediately after the deed is signed, the parties ask the notary public for a certified copy of the deed.
For the certified copy to be issued, it is necessary to wait a few days after the deed has been drawn up as it must first be registered (art. 66 of the Consolidated Law on Registration Tax).
Registration certifies the registration tax has been paid.
What happens if the property owner has lost the copy of the deed?
One could have recourse to the notary who drew up the deed, but the notary may in the meantime have moved to another district, ceased activity or died.
Fortunately, it is possible to recover the deed in several ways, let's see how.
RECOVERABLE DEEDS
Only public deeds (transcribed and) registered at the Land Registries or the State Notary Archives can be recovered, and not private deeds or successions simply registered at the Inland Revenue offices.
In addition to purchase and sale deeds (of real estate or land), the following can be recovered:
* donations;
* successions;
* mortgage deeds;
* deeds of incorporation of companies;
* deeds of division;
* mortgage deeds;
* deeds of foreclosure.
SEARCH AT THE NOTARY PUBLIC
By law, notaries are obliged to keep the deeds concluded in their archives until the termination of their activity or transfer to another notarial district.
In order to search for a deed at the office of the notarising notary, it is necessary to know the name of the public official and the date of stipulation.
The certified copy may also be issued to third parties, provided that they have been delegated by one of the contracting parties.
SEARCH IN THE DISTRICT NOTARISATION ARCHIVE
After conclusion, all notarised deeds are sent to the notarisation archive of the district in which the notary practises.
If you do not know the district notary's archive where the deed has been registered, you can use the Archinota service, managed by the Ministry of Justice, available at the following link:
To carry out the search, the name of the notary who notarised the deed, the date and province of stipulation and, to reduce the field even further, the repertory and collection numbers are required.
Once this data has been obtained, the system will indicate the district archives where the deed was registered and the opening hours of the offices.
The request for a copy of the deed can be made in person, by going to the Archive office, or electronically.
It will be necessary to specify the use for which the copy is intended, in order to obtain the duplicate on stamped or plain paper.
The copy may also be requested on digital support.
The central office of the Notarial Archives is in Rome, via Padre Semeria, 95.
ONLINE SEARCH
The search can be carried out by providing the name of one of the parties and the cadastral data of the property (or, failing that, the address).
If, on the other hand, you have the following informations, you can directly request a certified copy of the deed:
* name of the property owner;
* land registry details;
* year of stipulation;
* reference land registry;
* type of deed.
If the real estate is prior to 1 January 1980, it is necessary to know the name of the notary signing the deed.
If this is not the case, it is possible to request a paper inspection or a mortgage search in order to locate the transcription note containing all the deed's references, and then proceed to request a certified copy.
SEARCH AT THE REGISTRAR'S OFFICE
When the deed cannot be requested from the notary who notarised it (because, for example, he has ceased his activity) or from the district notary's archive, you can go to the Conservatory.
The time needed to recover the act is about one month.
All notarial acts are transferred to the State Archives 100 years after the death of the notary.
Although it is possible to obtain a certified copy of a notarial deed, it is always advisable to keep the documentation relating to the real estate you own in order and to check its completeness. So you can avoid bureaucratic delays when you decide to dispose of the property.
