10 December 2025

Valuing a property transparently

Urban planning and cadastral compliance

Urban planning and cadastral compliance is one of the pillars of safe purchase. In summary, the property must have been built and modified in compliance with the building titles and the real situation must correspond to that present in the land registry.

Key Verifications:

  • Does the cadastral plan correspond to the real distribution of spaces?
  • Are the changes made (moved partitions, verandas, mezzanines) authorized?
  • Are there building practices (permits, SCIA, CILA) to support the work done?

    • Buying a non-compliant property can create problems on mortgage, resale and future regularization. It is one of the most important checks to be done before the preliminary.

    Legal and mortgage situation

    In addition to the building situation, the "legal history" of the property must be checked.

  • Voluntary mortgages (e.g. mortgage still in progress).
  • Judicial mortgages or foreclosures (related to debts or lawsuits).
  • Recent donations: they can create difficulties in obtaining the mortgage and protecting against future actions.
  • Particular constraints: landscape, historical-artistic, civic use.

    • Rights and obligations of the real estate agent

    A professional real estate agent has a duty to provide correct and not misleading information, and to warn of any known critical issues.

    In practice, a good professional:

  • Collects and verifies documents before proposing the property.
  • It clearly lays out any compliance issues or special situations.
  • It facilitates relations with the technician, bank and notary for a smoother sale.
  • It does not "inflate" the price to feed false expectations.