Nowadays all notaries recommend obtaining an appraisal or certification of legitimacy from a technician before the sale. It’s a safety net for both parties:
– for the seller, who demonstrates they’re offering a legally compliant property and can sleep soundly after the sale;
– for the buyer, who knows exactly what they’re buying.
Having everything in order means speeding up the negotiation, avoiding litigation, and increasing trust between the parties.
What is the Certificate of Legitimate Status?
A technical document, drawn up by a licensed professional: a surveyor, architect, or engineer, who inspects the property and verifies whether it is built exactly as it appears in the municipal documents, planning permissions.
The technician compares what actually exists with what has been authorized: building permits, renovations, and changes over time.
– If everything matches, the property is legitimate.
– If something isn’t right, the technician discovers it before it becomes a legal or financial problem.
What if the house is an historic building or the documents are missing?
This is where the most fascinating part of the technical work comes in.
If the house is very old, perhaps built before modern building permits existed, the professional becomes a historian. He digs into archives, consults cadastral maps, historical photos, and municipal documents, and reconstructs the property’s history.
He puts together the puzzle until he understands whether the building complies with the current urban planning regulations. In practice, he transforms the memory of that house into legal certainty.