Transitorio, concordato or free market: which Italian lease to choose

When an owner asks us "which contract is best?", the honest answer is that the question is the wrong way round. There is no best contract in the abstract. There is the one that fits a particular home, in a particular area, for the particular person who will live in it. Owners who pick the best-known contract, or the one that looks most profitable on paper, usually find out later.

Below we set out the three main forms of residential lease in Italy — the 4+4 at a free-market rent, the 3+2 at an agreed ("concordato") rent and the transitorio, a fixed-term lease — and what really separates them. The legal references have been checked against official sources (Law 431/1998, the ministerial decree of 16 January 2017, Italian Revenue Agency guidance). This is still a general explainer: it is not legal or tax advice, and the individual case is decided by whoever signs, with a professional alongside.

The 4+4: free rent, long horizon

This is the "classic" contract. The parties set the rent freely, with no tables. The minimum term is four years, renewed automatically for another four.

What many owners underestimate is the first expiry. At the end of the first four years the landlord can refuse renewal only on the grounds the law lists (for instance personal or family use, sale, renovation), with at least six months' notice. At the second expiry either party may give notice or renegotiate. The tenant, for their part, can leave at any time for serious reasons, again with six months' notice.

In short: the 4+4 is a serious choice, not a fallback, but it is also the most binding. If there is any chance you will want the home back in three years, say so before signing.

Tax. An owner who is a private individual can opt for the flat-rate cedolare secca at 21%, or ordinary income tax.

The 3+2: agreed rent, regulated frame

Here the rent is not free. It must sit within the bands set by the municipality's territorial agreement, signed by landlords' and tenants' associations. The term is three years plus an automatic two-year extension.

In exchange for a rent within the bands, the state grants tax advantages. In municipalities classed as under high housing pressure — Trieste is one, as are Muggia and Duino-Aurisina — the flat-rate tax on a concordato lease falls to 10%. Contracts drawn up without the associations' assistance need a certificate of compliance (attestazione di rispondenza) from a signatory organisation; without it, the tax benefits do not apply.

Local property tax is affected too. In Friuli Venezia Giulia the national IMU has been replaced by a regional tax, ILIA, and in Trieste in 2026 the rate for homes let at an agreed rent is 0.65%, against the ordinary 1.06% for second homes.

One point that matters: the flat-rate tax is only available to private individuals. If the owner is a company, the main advantage of the concordato disappears and the sums have to be redone from scratch; often the free-market lease becomes competitive again.

How the maximum rent is worked out under the Trieste agreement is a subject of its own, and we cover it in a separate article.

The transitorio: for people with an end date

The transitorio is for people who need a home for a defined period: fixed-term work, assignments, research, medical treatment, an internship, waiting for a purchase to complete or a renovation to finish. The law caps it at eighteen months and requires the temporary need to be stated and documented in the contract. If the need is missing, or the contract does not follow the required form, it is automatically treated as a 3+2.

This is where the most common misunderstanding lies. Many people assume "transitorio" means "free rent". It does not: in municipalities of more than ten thousand inhabitants, the rent on a transitorio follows the bands of the territorial agreement. In Trieste, then, the transitorio lives inside the same framework as the concordato. And for that very reason, if it complies with the agreement, it can qualify for the 10% flat-rate tax.

Alongside the ordinary transitorio there is a contract for university students: six months to three years, only in university towns (or neighbouring ones) and only if the student is resident elsewhere. This too, if compliant, enjoys the reduced rate.

What about short lets?

Below thirty days you leave residential tenancy law and enter another world: a mandatory national ID code for the unit, safety equipment, guest registration with the police. From 2026 the flat-rate tax on short lets is 21% on the first unit the taxpayer designates, 26% on the second, and from the third unit the income counts as business income. We mention it because many owners come to us from there, tired: a handsome nightly rate can hide a much less handsome margin once cleaning, changeovers, commissions and empty weeks are taken out.

At a glance

How we think about it

Before talking contracts we look at the property: where it is, how it is laid out, whether it is furnished and ready, who it speaks to, and what the owner wants — more net income, more stability, less management, the option to have it back.

To bring order to those questions we built a scored questionnaire. Each answer shifts weight towards one formula and, more importantly, carries its reason and its caveats with it. If the owner is a company, for example, the system does not just quietly dock points from the concordato; it says why in plain words. A score without an explanation is an oracle. We wanted reasoning an owner can argue with.

The lesson we keep coming back to is simple. A transitorio works when it fits, and when it is forced it only creates friction. The same holds for the other two. The right contract is the one that holds up well over time, not the one that promises the highest theoretical rent.

Sources: Law 431/1998; Ministerial Decree of 16 January 2017; Italian Revenue Agency, flat-rate tax guidance (updated May 2026); CIPE resolution 87/2003 on high-pressure municipalities; Municipality of Trieste, ILIA rates 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.