Agricultural pre-emption right in Italy: who can buy farmland first

When farmland is sold, some people have the right to buy it first, on the same terms offered to a third party. This is the agricultural pre-emption right (prelazione agraria). It belongs to a tenant who is a direct farmer (coltivatore diretto, a farmer who works the land personally) and has farmed the land for at least 2 years. Without such a tenant, it goes to a neighbouring direct farmer. The holder of the right has 30 days to use it. If the seller does not notify them, they can buy back the land within one year of the sale being registered.

Who has the right

The rules are in article 8 of Law 590 of 26 May 1965 and in article 7 of Law 817 of 14 August 1971. The right belongs to:

• the direct farmer tenant, the sharecropper (mezzadro, colono) and the non-seasonal crop-share partner (compartecipante) of the land for sale;
• the direct farmer who owns neighbouring land;
• the professional agricultural entrepreneur (imprenditore agricolo professionale) registered with the farm social security scheme, who owns neighbouring land.

A farming partnership (società agricola di persone) can also use the right, if at least half of its partners are direct farmers. The same goes for a cooperative where at least half of the directors and members are direct farmers.

In what order

• The seller's co-heirs, if they are direct farmers, come before the tenant.
• Neighbours have the right only if there are no direct farmer sharecroppers, tenants, crop-share partners or long-term leaseholders (enfiteuti) on the land for sale.
• If there is more than one neighbour, Law 36 of 15 March 2024 gives priority to young farm entrepreneurs, meaning those over 18 and under 41 (definition). If all else is equal, the one with suitable knowledge and skills wins.

The tenant's conditions

The law asks three things of the tenant:

• farming the land for at least 2 years: the limit was 4 years, cut to 2 by the 1971 law;
• not having sold other farmland in the previous 2 years above a threshold of land taxable income, except for sales to consolidate farmland. The threshold is still written in lire;
• not exceeding, with this land and the other land owned, three times the area their family can farm.

When there is no pre-emption right

There is none in the case of exchange, forced sale, compulsory liquidation, bankruptcy and expropriation for public use. There is also none when the town plan, even one not yet approved, zones the land for building, industrial or tourist use.

How the procedure works

The owner must send a registered letter to the holder of the right, with the preliminary sale agreement. This agreement must state the buyer's name, the price and the other terms, including the clause on pre-emption.

The holder of the right has 30 days to use it. If they do, the price must be paid within 6 months from the thirtieth day after notice, unless agreed otherwise. If the land is farmed by several tenants, the right belongs to all of them together.

If the pre-emption right is not respected

If the owner does not give notice, or states a price higher than the one in the sale contract, the holder can buy back the land (riscatto). They have one year from the registration of the contract. The buy-back applies against the buyer and against anyone who bought from them later.

For your own case, talk to a notary or your farmers' organisation. Do you have farmland to sell: do you already know which tenants or neighbours could have priority?