Studio Tecnico Michele Sozzo, Chartered Surveyor, Lecce
Studio Tecnico Michele Sozzo, Chartered Surveyor, Lecce
I am a geometra, the Italian professional who measures buildings, verifies what has been legally authorised on them, files the permits and follows the works on site. I work in Salento, where I grew up, and most of my private clients come from abroad.
There is no exact equivalent in English, which is part of the confusion foreign buyers run into. A geometra is not an estate agent and not an architect. The work sits between the building itself and the public records that describe it: the cadastre, the building permits, the municipal archive. Verifying that those three tell the same story is the single most useful thing anyone can do for you before you buy a house in Italy.
Pre-purchase inspections, technical due diligence, feasibility studies and the management of renovation works, from the first site visit to the final handover.
Instrument surveys with laser scanner, drone and GNSS, point cloud processing, as-built documentation, cadastral and planning procedures.
Someone buying in Salento from London or Amsterdam is not short of enthusiasm. What they lack is a way to check anything: whether the veranda was ever authorised, whether the builder’s figure is serious, whether the work on site this week is the work being invoiced. Everyone they meet has an interest in the sale going through. I do not: I am paid by the buyer, and only by the buyer.
Over the years that has turned into something wider than a technical service. For many clients I become the local point of reference for the whole process: finding the right professionals, dealing with the town hall, translating what a document actually commits them to, and being the person who physically stands in the building when they cannot.
A first written opinion and a fixed quote within 48 hours, at no cost.
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