Most international buyers pursuing a property project in Sardinia move through the key stages of the process without giving much thought to the professionals around them.
The notary, in particular, is often seen as an imposed figure. An administrative formality. A cog in the system.
This perception is understandable.
It is also inaccurate.
The choice of notary belongs to the buyer
Under Italian law, it is the buyer who appoints the notary — and who bears the fees.
This is not simply a market convention. It follows the internal logic of the system: the party who pays, chooses.
For many foreign buyers, this comes as a surprise. Most discover this right at a point when the transaction is already well underway.
Yet the ability to choose one’s own notary is a meaningful protection — provided the buyer is aware of it and exercises it with purpose.
This arrangement is not universal. In France and Belgium, the buyer also appoints the notary, though each party may instruct their own without additional cost. In the United Kingdom, there is no notary in the Latin sense: each party retains their own solicitor, whose role is to represent their client’s interests. In the United States, transactions are typically handled through a title company. In Germany, the notary is generally agreed upon by both parties.
Italy sits within the Latin notarial tradition, where the notary acts as a public officer guaranteeing the legal validity of the deed — while the choice of professional and payment of fees fall to the buyer.
The agent’s suggestion: neither good nor bad by default
In practice, many buyers simply accept the notary recommended by the estate agent.
This is entirely understandable. The agent already knows the file, discussions are in motion, and questioning the recommendation can feel unnecessarily disruptive.
In areas with a well-established international clientele — which describes much of northern Sardinia — specialist agencies have often worked for years alongside notaries experienced in non-resident transactions. In that context, the agent’s recommendation is not a negative signal.
It simply deserves to be examined with some care. In areas with less exposure to international buyers, a notary may be fully competent in handling local transactions while having limited experience of the specific issues that arise for foreign purchasers: international taxation, powers of attorney established abroad, apostilled documents, or the coordination of multiple parties across different countries.
The question is not whether to refuse the suggestion. It is whether that suggestion genuinely fits the needs of the project.
What the choice of notary reveals about a project
Many international buyers spend weeks — sometimes months — comparing locations, sea views and property features. They tend to give considerably less attention to the professionals who will actually structure and oversee the entire transaction.
As the project progresses, the quality of that professional support often becomes more important than the quality of the listing itself.
Questions around planning compliance, powers of attorney, international taxation, or multi-party coordination never appear in property photographs. Yet they directly shape how smoothly the process unfolds — and how clearly a buyer can make decisions along the way.
Choosing a notary is therefore less about selecting an administrative service provider than about defining the conditions under which the transaction will take place.
What choosing the right notary actually means
Appointing a notary is not simply the exercise of a legal right. It is the selection of one of the key interlocutors in a cross-border property project.
Several criteria deserve particular attention.
Experience with non-resident buyers. An international property purchase is not simply a local transaction in another language. It involves additional verification steps, longer coordination timelines, and a precise understanding of the obligations specific to non-residents. A notary with experience in this type of transaction anticipates these constraints — rather than encountering them mid-process.
The ability to communicate with the buyer. Italian law requires that the buyer fully understands the legal implications of the deed they are signing. Where Italian is not spoken, the involvement of an official interpreter may be required. Some notaries integrate this dimension naturally into their practice. Others do not. This is not a matter of convenience — it is a condition for the validity of the act.
Familiarity with powers of attorney. For buyers unable to travel for every stage of the process, the notarial power of attorney is a common and entirely lawful instrument. Its execution, however, requires careful coordination — particularly when documents must be prepared abroad and apostilled. Not all notaries manage these situations with the same ease.
Transparency on fees. Since the liberalisation of notarial fees in Italy, charges are no longer set by a national scale. They depend on the value of the property and the complexity of the file. A professional notary provides a detailed written estimate before any engagement. This is the expected standard — not an added courtesy.
Availability. A cross-border transaction involves remote exchanges, translations, documents arriving from multiple jurisdictions, and timelines that are often difficult to synchronise. A notary’s responsiveness becomes a meaningful factor in how the project unfolds.
A matter of approach, not formality
The notary does not need to be located near the property. In Italy, a notary may execute deeds relating to properties anywhere in the country, regardless of where their office is based. Geographic proximity is rarely a relevant selection criterion.
What matters is the fit between the profile of the file and the experience of the professional chosen. The question is therefore not simply who appoints the notary. It is understanding why that appointment deserves more careful consideration than it typically receives.
Many buyers spend months finding the right property.
Few invest equivalent time in choosing the professionals who will accompany them through the process.
Yet a property can be replaced by another.
A missed opportunity is generally forgotten in time.
An error in the process can carry consequences that extend well beyond the transaction itself.
When a property project unfolds thousands of kilometres from home, the quality of the professionals surrounding it can sometimes matter as much as the property itself.