Inherited home in Trieste: letting it with co-heirs, and the tax

An inherited home in Trieste can be let even before the certificate of inheritance (certificato di eredità) and the entry in the land register (Libro fondiario): to let a property, having it at your disposal is enough. But collecting the rent counts as accepting the inheritance. Among several heirs, the majority by shares decides: with three siblings holding a third each, two are enough for a temporary lease, a 3+2 or a 4+4; beyond nine years, everyone must agree. Each heir pays tax on their own share.

Can you let it before the succession is closed?

Yes. You do not need to appear as owner in the Libro fondiario: for the Court of Cassation, applying the Joint Chambers' judgment 11135/2012, having the property at your disposal is sufficient to sign a lease (order 20885/2023).

Before accepting, however, a person called to the inheritance (chiamato all'eredità) may protect possession and carry out acts of preservation, supervision and temporary management (art. 460). Collecting the rent is an act disposing of the estate, not merely preserving it: for the Court of Cassation it is clearly capable of counting as tacit acceptance (art. 476; order 32703/2025). If you fear the deceased left debts, decide with the notary how to accept before you sign.

Letting does not move the succession return (dichiarazione di successione): it is due within 12 months of the opening of the succession, usually the death, and it is enough for one of the people obliged to file it (Legislative Decree 346/1990, arts. 28 and 31).

Several heirs: who decides to let?

Co-heirs follow the rules on co-ownership (art. 1100). A lease goes beyond ordinary management when it lasts more than nine years (art. 1572); below that, letting the shared property is ordinary management (Court of Cassation, order 4280/2023): the majority calculated on the value of the shares decides, not on headcount, and it binds those who disagree too (art. 1105).

• Everyone told first. The decision is valid only if every co-heir was informed in advance (art. 1105, para. 3): do it in writing.
• Beyond nine years, everyone (art. 1108, para. 3). The starting terms stay below that: a temporary lease at most 18 months, a 3+2 five years with the extension, a 4+4 eight (Law 431/1998, art. 2; Ministerial Decree of 16/01/2017, art. 2).
• A co-heir who disagrees can challenge it within 30 days, if the decision seriously harms the property or if they were not told (art. 1109).
• With no majority, as between two siblings with half each, either can go to the court, which may appoint an administrator (art. 1105, para. 4).
• If one of you lives there, the duty to leave arises with the decision to let it (art. 1102; Court of Cassation, order 3813/2023); but from the moment the others ask them for compensation, they owe the others their share of the civil fruits, measured, failing better yardsticks, on the rent the home could fetch.

If one heir signs alone, the lease is valid and effective: the others can ratify it and claim their share of the rent from the tenant; anyone who disagrees must say so before the signing, so as not to be bound by the commitments of the one who signs (order 20885/2023).

And the surviving parent?

The spouse of the deceased has the right of habitation over the home used as the family residence, if it belonged to the deceased or to both, even when sharing the estate with other heirs (art. 540). That right cannot be transferred or leased (art. 1024). If the parent moves elsewhere, talk to the notary: a waiver must be made by public deed or private written agreement, or it is void (art. 1350, nos. 4 and 5). In Trieste, the Court's certificate of inheritance states the right, where it exists, next to heirs and shares.

Who pays the tax on the rent?

Each heir on their own share: the property's income counts towards each co-owner's income for the part matching their right (TUIR, art. 26, para. 2; from 2027, art. 28 of Legislative Decree 117/2026). For the Agenzia delle Entrate, a lease signed by one co-owner also has effect for a co-heir who does not appear in it: they declare their share and can choose the cedolare (circular 20/E of 2012).

• Each co-owner chooses the cedolare separately, with tax code and signature in box D (quadro D) of the RLI form; to register the lease, one landlord's signature is enough.
• Whoever stays on ordinary income tax (IRPEF) pays registration tax, together with the tenant, on the part of the rent matching their share, and stamp duty is paid in full anyway. If that registration tax is below the minimum, €67 is paid in the first year (circular 26/E of 2011).
• One cedolare is enough to stop rent increases, ISTAT indexation included, for everyone, because the rent is agreed as a single sum (same circular).
• ILIA is paid by each heir on their own share, as an autonomous tax obligation (Regional Law 17/2022, art. 6). With a registered regulated rent lease the tax is reduced to 75%, if the declaration is filed with Esatto SpA together with the lease and the certificate of compliance (Comune page).

An example: three siblings and a 3+2 regulated rent

Assumptions: three siblings inherit a flat in Trieste, a third each. Two want a 3+2 regulated rent lease (canone concordato) at €600 a month, within the range of one of the two territorial agreements in force and with the certificate of compliance; the third would rather sell.

1. Who decides: the two, with two thirds of the shares, after sending the third the written proposal.
2. Who signs: the two, or the one to whom the same majority has delegated the management (art. 1106).
3. The rent: 600 × 12 = €7,200 a year, €2,400 each, including the sibling who disagreed (art. 1101).
4. With the 10% cedolare, the rate for regulated rents in high housing-pressure municipalities such as Trieste: 2,400 × 10% = €240 each, €720 in all.
5. If the third stays on IRPEF: taxable income 2,400 × 95% × 70% = €1,596; with income in the first bracket (23%), 1,596 × 23% = €367.08: already €127.08 more than the cedolare, local surcharges excluded.
6. Their registration tax: 2,400 × 70% × 2% = €33.60, that is €34 after rounding to the euro (Presidential Decree 131/1986, art. 41); it is below the minimum, so €67 is paid in the first year.

• RuleCivil Code, art. 1105

  Letting for up to 9 years (temporary, 3+2, 4+4)

  Who must agree: the majority by shares, with everyone told

• Ruleart. 1106

  Delegating the management to one of you

  Who must agree: the majority by shares

• Ruleart. 1108, para. 3

  Letting for more than 9 years

  Who must agree: everyone

• Ruleart. 1108, para. 3

  Selling the whole home

  Who must agree: everyone

The Trieste step: land register, cadastre, regulated rent

• Libro fondiario. It applies in the provinces of Trieste and Gorizia and in some municipalities of the province of Udine (Regione FVG). To be entered, the heir must bring the certificate of inheritance to the land register judge (giudice tavolare), and until they are entered nothing can be registered against them (Royal Decree 499/1929, art. 3): it matters for selling, mortgaging and recording a lease longer than nine years (land register law, art. 19).
• Cadastre. For homes in the Libro fondiario territories, the succession return does not carry out the cadastral transfer (voltura catastale) automatically: the request is filed separately with the Agenzia delle Entrate office or through the "Voltura catastale web" service (AdE succession instructions).
• Regulated rent. An inherited home follows one of the two territorial agreements in force in Trieste, like any other (Comune page). Under the 2025 agreement, the certificate of compliance is requested by "the interested party": one of you is enough, and the form has a section for the other landlords.
• If you live elsewhere, you can give a sibling a written power of attorney: a power of attorney takes the form of the contract (art. 1392), and a lease must be in writing (Law 431/1998, art. 1).