Last reviewed: September 2026
If you live in the United States, Canada or South America and want to buy a property in Italy, you will almost always run into the same practical obstacle: the deed is signed in Italy, before an Italian notary, and flying over twice for a transaction that can take months is expensive and often impossible to fit around work.
There is an answer, and it is not a shortcut: a power of attorney. Properly drafted in your country of residence, it allows the entire transaction to be handled by the person acting on your behalf, from the first offer to the handover of the keys.
The difficult part is not whether this is possible, which is settled. It is how it is done. An imprecise power of attorney reveals its defects at the worst possible moment, in front of the notary, on the day of the deed.
What it allows you to do
With an adequate power of attorney, your attorney-in-fact can submit the purchase offer, sign the preliminary contract, pay the deposit, make the declarations required by law and appear at the deed in your name and on your behalf. The property is registered directly in the name of the person who granted the power, who remains the buyer for all purposes.
Alongside the deed itself, there are the steps that make the purchase materially possible: an Italian tax code, a current account through which the funds can move, the provision for notarial fees and taxes, and the transfer of utilities once ownership has passed. These can also be handled remotely, but they need to be started early, because they are the most frequent reason a completion date has to be postponed.
Where the power of attorney is signed
There are two routes, and the choice has practical consequences.
Before an Italian consulate
Italian consular offices abroad exercise notarial functions. The document is drawn up directly in Italian by an Italian public officer and requires neither translation nor apostille. On formal grounds this is the cleanest route.
The constraint is organisational: appointment availability varies widely between posts, and in some consular districts the waiting times are incompatible with the pace of a property transaction. Check this first, not last.
Before a local notary
The power of attorney can also be executed before a notary or public officer in your country of residence. In that case two further steps are needed before it can be used in Italy.
The first is legalisation. For countries party to the 1961 Hague Convention, including the United States, legalisation is replaced by an apostille issued by the competent authority in that country. For countries outside the Convention, the document goes through the Italian consulate. For Canada, where accession to the Convention is recent and competence is partly provincial, it is worth checking case by case which authority issues the apostille.
The second is a sworn translation into Italian, prepared according to the rules applicable in the country where the document was executed or in Italy.
One clarification, because this is the most common misunderstanding: an apostille does not certify the content of the power of attorney. It certifies the capacity and the signature of the public officer who executed it. If the powers granted are insufficient, an apostille fixes nothing.
Form: why a signed letter is not enough
A power of attorney must take the same form required for the act the attorney-in-fact will carry out. Since the purchase of a property is completed by public deed or by a privately signed document with authenticated signatures, the power of attorney must take that form too.
A handwritten authorisation, a signed letter, an emailed scan or a document signed electronically without the involvement of a public officer are therefore not valid for this purpose. This is why the Italian notary asks for the original power of attorney, with apostille and translation, and not a copy.
What it must contain
A general power of attorney, granting broad powers of representation without further detail, is the main source of problems. A power of attorney built for a property purchase sets out precisely:
- the identification of the property, including land registry data, rather than a generic description
- the maximum price authorised and the payment methods permitted
- the power to sign the offer and the preliminary contract and to pay the deposit
- the power to make the declarations required by law at completion, including planning and land registry declarations
- the power to claim any applicable tax relief, where the conditions are met
- the power to accept or waive conditions precedent and to renegotiate within defined limits
- where the purchase is financed, the power to take out a mortgage and to consent to the registration of the charge
- its duration, after which the power lapses, and how it can be revoked
The principle is simple: any power not provided for is a power that is missing. If completion requires a declaration the power of attorney does not cover, the deed stops there, and the document has to be redrawn with all the apostille and translation time that involves.
Who to appoint
Choosing the person is a protective decision, not a formality.
Your attorney-in-fact should have no interest of their own in the transaction. Appointing the estate agent, the seller or someone connected to the seller means handing the representation of your interests to someone whose interests are different, and in some configurations it exposes the deed to challenge.
Granting the power to your own lawyer follows the same logic that justifies checking the property before you commit: whoever signs for you should answer only to you.
Checks are not delegated, they are brought forward
A power of attorney solves the problem of distance. It does not replace the investigation into the property itself.
If anything, a buyer abroad needs a more thorough investigation, not a lighter one, because they have not seen the place, do not know the area and cannot pick up the inconsistencies a visit reveals. Ownership, building compliance, mortgages and the condominium position should all be established before the offer, while the commercial terms are still open.
We have covered this in two related articles: what to check before you sign and how property due diligence works.
The recommended sequence
- Apply for the Italian tax code and open the bank account, which are the slowest steps
- Investigate the property you have chosen, before making any commitment
- Draft the text of the power of attorney, tailored to the actual transaction
- Sign it at the consulate or before a local notary, with apostille and translation
- Negotiate, make the offer and sign the preliminary contract with the conditions precedent you need
- Complete before the notary and register the deed, with the title delivered to the buyer
Step three comes before step four for a specific reason: what goes into the power of attorney depends on what the investigation found. A planning irregularity to be regularised or a mortgage to be discharged calls for powers that a document drafted in the abstract will not contain.
A note on remote signing
Alongside the power of attorney there are forms of remote participation in a notarial deed, whose use depends on the technical requirements involved and on the assessment of the notary handling the transaction. For buyers resident outside the European Union, the power of attorney remains the most solid route today and the most predictable in terms of timing.
Mistakes that cost money
A recycled general power. A template used for another transaction, or a text downloaded online, will not contain the specific powers completion requires.
An apostille on the wrong document. The apostille must be affixed to the document executed by the public officer, following the procedure applicable in that country. A stamp on the wrong paper means starting again.
A translation that does not comply. A courtesy translation cannot be used. A sworn translation prepared under the applicable rules is required.
An expired power of attorney. Property transactions run long. A duration calculated on the optimistic version of the timeline means going through the whole procedure a second time.
How Mignacca Law works
Mignacca Law is an international law firm based in Rome. We assist buyers resident in the United States, Canada, Brazil and Argentina with property purchases in Italy: investigation of the property, drafting the power of attorney and coordinating with the consulate or the local notary, review and negotiation of the contracts, and representation through to completion and registration. One point of contact, from the offer to the keys.
Our team works in Italian, English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and the first consultation is free.
If you are considering a property in Italy and you live abroad, talk to us before you sign anything and before the power of attorney is drafted.
This article provides general information and does not constitute legal advice. Every transaction has specific characteristics that require individual evaluation.