CompromessoCheck
Guides · Updated 2026-08-17
The seller wants out: what your preliminary contract actually lets you do
Most guides tell foreign buyers what happens if they default: they lose the deposit. Far fewer explain the opposite case — the seller who receives a better offer, or simply changes their mind, weeks before the deed. It happens, and Italian law gives the buyer more than most people realise.
Option one: take the money and walk
With a caparra confirmatoria, a buyer facing the seller's default may withdraw and demand double the deposit (art. 1385 c.c.). It is the fastest exit and the one everyone knows. It is also, on a rising market or for a house you actually want, often the worst deal available to you: you get your money back twice over and lose the property.
Option two: have a court complete the sale
Under art. 2932 c.c., where a party bound to conclude a contract refuses to do so, the other party may obtain a judgment that produces the same effects as the unsigned deed. In practice: the court's ruling transfers the property to you, provided you perform — or formally offer to perform — your own side, which means having the balance genuinely available.
This is the remedy that turns a preliminary contract from a promise into something close to a purchase. It is also the reason the registration of the preliminary (trascrizione, art. 2645-bis c.c.) matters so much: with it, the eventual judgment ranks back to the date of registration, so mortgages, seizures or a second sale entered in the meantime do not defeat you. Without it, you may win the case and still find the property gone.
Option three: terminate and claim damages
Instead of the deposit route, a buyer may seek termination of the contract with compensation for the actual loss suffered (art. 1453 c.c.) — relevant when the real damage exceeds the deposit: the mortgage arranged and paid for, the survey, the removal costs, a rental in the meantime.
The honest part
All three are legal options; two of them are lawsuits. Italian civil proceedings take time and money, and no guide should present 'sue for specific performance' as a light decision. The practical lesson is upstream: the protections you want are the ones added before signing — registration of the preliminary where the gap to the deed is long, symmetric termination clauses, and a deposit sized so the seller has a real reason to complete.
Check what your draft gives you
Most seller-drafted preliminaries spell out the buyer's default in detail and stay silent on the seller's. Our analysis flags exactly that asymmetry in your document, quotes the clause, and gives you the wording to ask for. From $49.
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This guide is general information about Italian law and practice, written by CompromessoCheck. It is not legal advice. Laws change and cases differ: verify your specific situation with a notary or an independent lawyer.