Lease agreements, or contracts which in any case constitute relative rights of enjoyment, of real estate units or portions thereof, however, stipulated, are void if, if the conditions are met, they are not registered. Failure to register the property lease contract is therefore causing its nullity.
The nullity can be relative if the owner has not done so to fulfil the registration, keeping the tenant in the dark, the nullity can be absolute instead if the lack of registration is the result of an agreement between the parties.
Since that contract does not exist, if the owner wants to send the tenant away because he is in arrears, he will not be able to use the special eviction procedure, but the ordinary one, which is much longer and more expensive.
In addition to having the contract declared invalid for non-registration, the owner and the tenant risk heavy financial penalties.
The Revenue Agency, in fact, may order a tax assessment at the outcome of which, should it emerge that the contract is not registered and the registration tax has been evaded, it imposes important fines.
The rule that deals with sanctioning the failure to register the lease is art. 69 of Presidential Decree no. 131/1986 containing the Consolidated Law on the provisions on registration tax. This provision deals with the failure to request registration and the failure to submit the report of subsequent events relating to the rental contract.
As regards the entity of the administrative sanctions, the law provides for a minimum measure equal to 120 times up to a maximum of 240 times the value of the tax due.
A sanction that, in the event of late registration not exceeding 30 days, is applied to the extent of 60 to 120 times the amount of the tax, with a minimum that in any case cannot be less than 200 euros.
The other problem relates to the failure to declare the rent received to the tax authorities and therefore to the failure to pay the income tax relating to the lease.
Well in the case of a tax assessment of this kind, the lessor, in addition to having to pay the amount of the tax evaded, will have to bear the cost of the related penalties ranging from 60 to 120% of the unpaid tax (with a minimum of 200 euro) if the owner has not declared the income from the rental contract in the tax return; from 90 to 180% of the unpaid tax if the owner has registered the contract, declaring however a lower rent than the one received.
In the event of an illegal rent of a residential property, the penalties are doubled.
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