Selling a gifted house on Lake Garda: what changes in 2026

You can sell a house on Lake Garda that was given to you: since 18 December 2025 a reform has protected buyers, but before any purchase offer I would have a notary check the deeds.

Say you want to sell the holiday apartment in Manerba del Garda that your parents gave you as a gift (donazione), which in Italy is made by notarial deed. As you gather the documents, you wonder whether that gift could complicate the negotiation. That is exactly where I would start, with a complete copy of the deed of gift on the table.

What changes for the buyer and for you

Buyers want to know whether a dispute over the inheritance could also affect the house. The reform in Article 44 of Law 182/2025 of 2 December 2025 deals with exactly this point.

Italian law reserves a share of the inheritance for certain family members. When a gift eats into that share, they can ask for the gift to be reduced (riduzione) to recover it. These family members are called forced heirs (legittimari). The new Article 563 of the Italian Civil Code protects anyone who bought the house for a price: they do not have to give it back as a result of the reduction.

For you as the seller, one point still needs assessing. If the gift did infringe that share, you must compensate the forced heirs in money to make it up. If, however, you still own the house, the reduction may mean you have to return it. I would have your own position clarified as well as the buyer’s protection.

You can sell even if the donor is still alive

You can sell the house on even while the person who gave it to you is still alive, because the right passes to you with the gift itself. I would look straight away at which right you received and what clauses the deed contains.

Take, for example, a small detached house in Puegnago del Garda: the parents may have transferred only the bare ownership (nuda proprietà). This means the house is yours, but the usufruct (usufrutto), that is, the right to use it or collect rent from it, may have stayed with them.

Before offering full ownership free of other rights, I would ask the notary to clarify who needs to take part in the sale and with which rights. The notary (notaio) is the impartial public official who draws up the deed of sale.

The dates and deeds to have checked

The date that matters is the date of death of the person who made the gift. That is when the succession opens, under Article 456 of the Italian Civil Code. Even a gift signed before the reform can fall under the new rules.

The 6-month transitional period ended on 18 June 2026. As of October 2026, this is the comparison to make:

The notary checks the registrations (trascrizioni), that is, the entries of deeds in the land registers. For older successions, the notary looks for claims for reduction and formal objections to the gift (opposizioni), including those made before the reform.

If these deeds were served, that is, formally notified, and registered within the time limits and under the conditions of Article 44(2), they may keep the old rules. For the buyer’s protection, it also matters that the purchase is registered before the court claim, as provided by Article 2652, no. 1 of the Civil Code.

So I would take to the notary every document you have received about family disputes, even if the matter seems long past. The notary will reconstruct the sequence of deeds and explain what effect they have on the sale.

If the buyer needs a mortgage

In Desenzano del Garda, for example, the person who wants to buy your house might rely on a mortgage to complete the purchase. I would put the bank and the notary in touch at the start of the negotiation and share the deed of gift with them.

The bank assesses both the buyer’s ability to repay and the value of the house, through a valuation report. When agreeing the timetable for the sale, I would therefore allow for both the notary’s checks and the outcome of the mortgage application.

What I would prepare before accepting an offer

I would involve the notary before you accept a written purchase offer (proposta d’acquisto) from someone who wants to buy. To prepare for that meeting, I would gather:

• the complete deed of gift, with its clauses and any reservation of usufruct
• the succession documents, if the donor has died, with the date of death
• any deeds you have received about disputes and objections
• the bank’s contact details, if the buyer is applying for a mortgage

The legal checks are the notary’s job, while I help you gather the documents and prepare the sale. To complete your file, you can use my checklist of documents to sell a house.

How I would approach the sale price

I would avoid a discount decided only because the word “gift” appears in the deed. First I would have it clarified whether there are real problems to deal with, and then I would value the house on its location and condition.

The article on Lake Garda property prices in October 2026 gives you a first comparison with the local market. To discuss the price of your house, I would combine that comparison with the picture that emerges from the notary’s checks.

Do you want to sell a gifted house in the Valtenesi, the hills between Desenzano and Salò, or in Desenzano itself? Let’s arrange a meeting and bring a copy of the deed. We will start from there to organise the checks with the notary and prepare the sale.

This article gives general information. For your own case, ask a notary.