In Italy the estate agent is, by default, an impartial intermediary who is entitled to a commission from the buyer and from the seller alike. That is why the buyer’s agent you know from home seems not to exist here. What exists instead is a written engagement that says who instructed the agent and who pays them, and you are paying a commission either way.
Key takeaways
- An Italian estate agent is a mediatore, legally a neutral middleman: the civil code defines the role as putting two or more parties in touch for the conclusion of a business transaction without being bound to any of them by ties of collaboration, dependence or representation (article 1754, our translation).
- The same code gives that agent the right to a commission from each of the parties. That is the default rule and not a mandatory one: the second paragraph of the same article expressly contemplates a different agreement, so who pays, and how much, is settled by the written engagement.
- There is no commission rate fixed by law in Italy, and no official published average. Anyone quoting you a standard rate is quoting a market habit.
- Our own property finding fee is 4 percent plus VAT, paid by you as the buyer, agreed in writing before the search begins. On a house found through another agency, which is what this service is for, that fee is all we earn: we take no share of the seller’s side.
- Registration is what entitles an agency to charge a commission at all, so it is worth two minutes to check. Ask for the REA number and the Chamber of Commerce it is registered with.
Why the buyer’s agent you are looking for seems not to exist in Italy
Because the default role here is built the other way round. In the United States and, in a different form, in Britain, an agent owes a duty to one side. In Italy the standard figure is the mediatore, and the civil code describes them as the person who puts two or more parties in touch for the conclusion of a business transaction, without being bound to any of them by ties of collaboration, dependence or representation (article 1754). Impartiality is not a courtesy in this system, it is the definition of the job.
The next article follows from it. The mediatore is entitled to a commission from each of the parties when the deal is concluded as a result of their intervention (article 1755). Read the whole of that article, though, because the second paragraph matters as much as the first: it settles the amount and the split in the absence of an agreement. In other words this is the default, not a rule that cannot be varied, and there is no rate set by law. What actually governs your case is the written engagement you sign.
Still, the default is what you will meet in most agencies, and it explains the feeling foreign buyers describe. When someone says «I want somebody on my side», they are not being demanding, they are noticing something real: the person showing them the house was instructed by the person selling it, and is entitled to be paid by both of them.
This is worth understanding rather than resenting. A system with an impartial intermediary and a public notary has genuine protections in it, and our guide to the Italian purchase process and the notary goes through them. What it does not give you, on its own, is representation.
What you can arrange instead
Representation in Italy is not a title you look for, it is a contract you agree. Before any search starts you should have an engagement letter, the incarico, that answers four questions in writing: who is instructing the agent, what the fee is, what event triggers it, and what happens if you do not buy. Everything that matters about whose side someone is on is decided there, not by the label on their website.
So treat the words on a homepage as a starting point and the engagement letter as the answer. Read it before you sign it, and if what it says does not match what the site promised, believe the letter.
What does a buyer’s agent actually do here?
The work divides into three parts, and only the first is what people expect.
Search. The whole market rather than one window. An Italian agency can only show you the properties it has been instructed to sell, and in Tuscany the stock is scattered across hundreds of small agencies plus a quantity of houses that are never advertised at all. A buyer’s agent starts from what you want and goes looking for it, including in agencies that are not their own and among owners who have not yet listed.
Judgement. Telling you when a house is wrong for you. Whether the price makes sense against real comparables, whether the roof and the structure are a project or a disaster, whether that valley floods, whether the track is shared and with whom. On an old farmhouse this is most of the value: our guide to what it costs to renovate a Tuscan farmhouse shows how much of a budget hides in the parts you cannot see from the photographs.
Process. Negotiating on your instructions, coordinating the surveyor, the notary and the translations, and keeping a purchase moving when you are in another country and another time zone. Our guide to the cost of buying property in Italy covers the taxes and fees that arrive alongside all this.
What does a buyer’s agent cost in Tuscany?
Ours is 4 percent plus VAT of the purchase price, paid by you as the buyer, set out in the engagement letter before the search begins. We publish it because the figure is the first thing people want and the hardest to find: most of the firms offering this service in Italy do not put a number on their website at all.
The part that matters more than the percentage is what sits behind it. When we find your house through another agency, which is the normal case for this service, that fee is everything we earn on the purchase: we do not also take a share of the seller’s side. That is what makes the engagement a representation and not just an introduction, and it is the question you should put to anyone offering you this service.
There is one situation where the arrangement is different, and we say so plainly rather than leaving you to discover it. If the right house turns out to be one of our own listings, the ordinary Italian arrangement applies, with a commission from both sides, and in that case you do not need a property finding service at all to see a house that is already in our window.
For context, and this is our own observation of the Tuscan market rather than a survey, agency fees here typically fall somewhere between 2 and 4 percent plus VAT per side. There is no statutory rate in Italy and no official published average, so treat any figure you are given, including ours, as a starting point for a written agreement rather than a tariff. And remember the comparison that counts: in a normal purchase you are already paying a buyer side commission, to an agent who is legally impartial and was instructed by the seller.
How to tell a real buyer’s agent from a seller’s agent with a new name
The phrase has no protection, so anyone can print it. Four questions sort it out quickly, and a firm that works this way will answer all four without hesitating.
Are you registered as an estate agency in Italy? Ask for the REA number and the Chamber of Commerce. Since 2010 there is no separate professional roll: registration is held in the Business Register at the local Chamber of Commerce, in the estate agents section, and anyone can verify it. This is not a formality, because registration is what gives an agency the right to charge a commission at all, and that applies to an agent acting for one party just as much as to an ordinary intermediary.
Who pays you on my purchase, and how much? In writing, in the engagement letter, before the search starts. Our own answer is above: on a house found through another agency, only you.
Will you show me houses you have no other interest in? An agency with its own listings is not disqualified, but you should expect it to search beyond them and to say plainly when a property is one of its own.
What will you tell me not to buy? The answer to this one is a good measure of the relationship. If nothing is ever wrong with any house, you are being sold to.
How this differs from home
If you are buying from the United States, note that your own market changed on 17 August 2024, when the National Association of Realtors settlement took effect. Offers of compensation to the buyer’s agent can no longer be published on the MLS, and buyers now sign a written agreement with their agent, stating that fees are fully negotiable, before viewing a property. Sellers may still contribute, off the MLS or as a concession, and in practice many still do, but it is negotiated deal by deal rather than assumed.
The useful consequence is that the Italian conversation will feel less alien than it once did. In both countries you are now expected to agree in writing, before you start looking, who your agent is working for and what they are paid.
Do you need one at all?
Not always, and it depends on three things: how far away you live, how much of the market you want to see, and how much of the process you are willing to run yourself. If you have a specific village in mind, you speak Italian, and you can be here for viewings on short notice, you may do perfectly well dealing directly with local agencies. Our guide to Tuscany property prices by area is a reasonable place to start on your own.
The calculation changes when you are buying from abroad, when your requirements cut across several provinces, or when the houses you like are the ones that need work. Those are the cases where the search is long, the mistakes are expensive, and having one person accountable to you is worth what it costs.
Frequently asked questions
Do estate agents in Italy work for the buyer or the seller?
By default for neither and for both. The Italian civil code defines the estate agent as a mediatore, an intermediary who is not bound to either party by ties of collaboration, dependence or representation, and who is entitled to a commission from each of the parties when the deal completes. If you want someone acting on your instructions, that is settled in a written engagement letter, which says who instructed the agent and who pays them.
Who pays the estate agent commission in Italy?
As a rule both sides do: the buyer and the seller each pay the agent, and the proportions are agreed in advance. The civil code sets this as the default and expressly allows a different agreement, so what governs your purchase is what your engagement letter says. Either way, a buyer in Italy should expect to pay a commission.
How much does a buyer’s agent cost in Tuscany?
Our property finding fee is 4 percent plus VAT of the purchase price, paid by the buyer and agreed in writing before the search begins. When the house comes from another agency, that fee is everything we earn: we take no share of the seller’s side. There is no rate fixed by law in Italy and no official published average; in our own experience of this market, agency fees fall roughly between 2 and 4 percent plus VAT per side.
Can a buyer’s agent be paid by the seller too?
In the ordinary Italian arrangement yes, because the impartial intermediary is entitled to a commission from each party. That is precisely what a buyer engagement changes, and it is the question to ask before you sign: on a house we find for you through another agency, we are paid by you alone. If instead the right house is one of our own listings, the usual both-sides arrangement applies and we tell you so.
Is a buyer’s agent legal in Italy?
Yes. Acting on the instructions of one party is a matter of contract, set out in the engagement letter, and it is compatible with Italian law. The essential checks are that the agency is properly registered, since registration is what entitles anyone to charge a commission, and that the engagement is in writing before the work starts.
How do I find a trustworthy buyer’s agent in Tuscany?
Ask for the REA number and the Chamber of Commerce where the agency is registered, ask in writing who pays them on your purchase, ask whether they will search beyond their own listings, and ask what they would tell you not to buy. Be wary of anyone who cannot give you a fee in writing before the work starts.
How we can help
Easy Living Tuscany is an Italian agency based in Tuscany, and our property finding service is exactly this: one advisor who searches the whole market on your instructions, including houses that are never advertised, for 4 percent plus VAT paid by you, agreed in writing before we start, and with nothing taken from the seller’s side on the houses we find for you elsewhere. If you would rather begin by looking, browse what is currently for sale, and when you want an honest read on a specific house or area, book a call. For the wider picture, start with our complete guide to buying property in Tuscany, and if you are wondering whether you can buy here at all, the answer is in our guide on whether foreigners can buy property in Italy.
This article explains how the roles work in Italy, it is not legal advice, and the translations of the civil code are our own. Confirm your own arrangement with your notary or lawyer before you sign an engagement letter.
Last updated September 2026. Written by Alessandro Ciacci, Co-founder, Easy Living Tuscany.
