Moving Your Primary Residence When Renting A Property in Italy: Advantages and Risks
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One of the first questions that foreign clients moving to Italy and looking for a rental property ask is: "What is the difference between domicile and residence? Should I move the residence here during my stay in Italy?”.
As usual, our Rentals Consultant Elisa comes to our aid in shedding light on the topic.
Residence vs Domicile: key definitions
Under the Italian Law, a residence is the place where a person lives permanently, for the largest part of the year.
Residence should not be confused with domicile.
The two terms, which are often used interchangeably, indicate completely different legal situations:
• The residence has to do with living in a place in a stable and fixed condition.
• The domicile, on the other hand, is the place of business and interests.
So the question arises spontaneously: is it better to change residence when renting a house?
When someone rent a property, it’s not mandatory to change the residence, regardless of the duration of the contract. Those who move "temporarily" to another city for study or work reasons and decide to rent a house, don’t necessarily have to move their residence too. In other words, there’s no obligation and no legal provision is violated.
The residence must coincide with the place of habitual residence, that is the home where people stay for most of the year.
It follows that it’s not necessary to change residence if you are away from home for just a few months!
It is also true that those who sign a rental contract for temporary use - lasting a few months (no more than 18) - can move the residence in the new rented property.
In short, in the hypothesis of a new rental contract, it's mandatory to change residence only if the new property becomes an actual habitual residence of the tenant and not a place to settle for a short time or on an occasional basis; on the contrary, it is not forbidden to move the residence even for a short period.
3 advantages of moving your residence
The transfer of residence often brings some advantages that shouldn’t be underestimated.
One of the main benefits for those who rent a property and move the residence is certainly the tax aspect: tenants can deduct the rent, according to their income and typology of contract.
The other advantage is represented by the lower cost of the utility bills: the electricity supply for a house in which you permanently reside is far more advantageous than a contract without residence.
You will be able to use the services of the local health unit.
From 9th May 2019, a new decree has established that the change of residence takes place in real time: it starts from the day the declaration is presented at the Municipality (Comune).
Risks with false residence
Every citizen has the obligation to be available, this means that he must provide the registry offices with a place of residence where he can be reached at.
There’s a ban on providing an address where one doesn’t physically live: this obviously doesn’t mean that, for every move, one has to change residence. The residence just has to coincide with the place where one stays for most of the year.
Providing a residence other than the actual one integrates the crime of forgery in a public document.
The offense in question, however, is triggered only when a false address is given to the registry office, as often happens for tax reasons (just think of the possibility of not paying the IMU tax on the main residence).
Therefore, a correct interpretation excludes the offense every time the residence is changed and the new address is not communicated to the Registry.
In short: lying to the Registry is a crime while not updating it’s not.
Conclusion
Establishing one's residence freely (in the presence of a title - i.e rental contract) is a tenant's right.
The residence is identified in the place where the person has his habitual residence at a certain time. It makes no sense to believe that only in the presence of a "long" residential contract (for example 4 + 4) the tenant is entitled to establish residence in the leased property.
The tenant can set his residence temporarily in a property for some months, without this negating the transitory requirements alleged;
no risk of contract transformation, in the presence of such needs.
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