Rental Contracts in Italy: The 4+4 and 3+2 Lease Regimes Explained
Italian residential leases run on one of two statutory tracks set by L. 9 dicembre 1998, n. 431: the canone libero contract, four years plus an automatic four-year renewal, and the canone concordato contract, three years plus a two-year extension at a rent set within locally agreed bands. Which track a lease uses changes its minimum duration, how the rent is set, how either side can end it early, and even which cedolare secca rate applies to it.
This page sets out both regimes, when a lease must be registered and what happens if it is not, and the closed list of reasons a landlord can refuse to renew. For the tax side of a canone concordato lease, see our companion page on cedolare secca; for what happens when rent goes unpaid under either regime, see eviction for unpaid rent.
Information verified on 21 July 2026. This page provides general legal information and does not constitute legal advice for an individual situation.
The two regimes: canone libero (4+4) and canone concordato (3+2)
Art. 2, L. 431/1998 gives landlords and tenants exactly two structures for an ordinary residential lease. The canone libero form runs a minimum of four years with a freely agreed rent; the parties can set any figure they agree on, with no statutory band (art. 2, comma 1).
The canone concordato form runs a minimum of three years, and the rent must sit within bands set by a local agreement between the landlord and tenant associations for that comune, an accordo territoriale (art. 2, comma 3). In exchange, the lease unlocks the reduced 10 percent cedolare secca rate covered on our tax page, and in many comuni also lighter local property-tax treatment set independently by the comune itself.
What happens at renewal
At the first expiry of either contract, if neither side has validly ended it, the law itself extends it: a canone libero lease renews automatically for a further four years on the same terms, and a canone concordato lease is prorogato for two years. Only at the second expiry does either side gain a free hand to renegotiate the terms or decline to renew, again with six months' written notice; silence renews the lease again on the same terms (art. 2, commi 1 and 5, L. 431/1998).
Ending the contract early: the tenant's own right to withdraw
A tenant on either type of contract can walk away at any point during the term, for gravi motivi, a change of circumstance serious enough to make continuing the lease materially harder, a job relocation or a significant change in the household's circumstances among the usual examples. The formal requirement is six months' written notice to the landlord (art. 3, comma 6, L. 431/1998); many leases shorten this by an express clause, but the statute itself does not require the tenant to justify the reason to the landlord's satisfaction before giving notice.
When a landlord can refuse to renew
A landlord's own route out is far narrower. The landlord's notice is a disdetta, and art. 3, comma 1, L. 431/1998 lists specific, exhaustive grounds, and a landlord who wants to end the lease at its first expiry must fit one of them and give six months' notice, the tenant's recesso,:
- using the property for their own housing, business, or professional use, or that of a spouse, parent, child, or a relative to the second degree;
- for certain non-profit or public-interest landlords, redirecting the property to their stated purpose while offering the tenant a suitable alternative;
- the tenant already has full use of another suitable dwelling in the same comune;
- the building needs demolition, rebuilding, or major structural work incompatible with the tenant staying;
- the tenant is not continuously occupying the property, without a justified reason, and no lawful succession into the tenancy has taken place;
- the landlord intends to sell and owns no other residential property besides, at most, their own home, in which case the tenant also has a right of first refusal (prelazione) under artt. 38 and 39, L. 27 luglio 1978, n. 392.
Notice for any of these grounds must state the specific ground relied on, or it is void. A landlord relying on planned building work must already hold the necessary building permit before starting the eviction process, not merely intend to apply for one.
What happens if the landlord acts in bad faith
If a landlord regains the apartment on one of these grounds but does not actually use it that way within twelve months, or is found to have invoked a ground that did not genuinely apply, the tenant can ask a court either to reinstate the original lease on its old terms or to be paid at least thirty six months of the last rent, whichever the tenant prefers (art. 3, commi 3 and 5, L. 431/1998). The same right applies where the landlord sells the property without honoring the tenant's right of first refusal correctly.
Other lease types: transitorio and student housing
Beyond the two ordinary regimes, art. 5, L. 431/1998 allows two further, shorter forms for specific situations: a contratto transitorio for a genuinely temporary need of either party, of a duration shorter than the ordinary minimums, and a separate contract for university students, which can be arranged directly or through a local agreement between the comune, the university, and student associations. Both need the underlying temporary or student need to genuinely exist; using a transitorio label to sidestep the ordinary four-year or three-year minimum on what is really an ordinary tenancy does not convert the lease into a valid transitorio one.
Registration: mandatory within thirty days, and what happens if it is skipped
Every residential lease must be registered with the Agenzia delle Entrate within thirty days of signing, whether or not the parties choose cedolare secca; the duty and the cost of registering fall on the landlord (art. 13, comma 1, L. 431/1998). Registration also carries a modest cost under ordinary taxation, the imposta di registro at 2 percent of the annual rent per year of the contract with a 67 euro minimum, commonly split between the parties by custom, though cedolare secca replaces this entirely.
Two different defects carry two different remedies, and they are easy to conflate. Where the lease IS registered but the tenant actually pays more than the registered figure, art. 13 comma 1 makes the side agreement void as to the excess, with a six month action to recover it. Where the lease was never registered at all there is no registered figure for anything to exceed, so the route is instead comma 6, which extends the same court action to reset the tenancy to statutory terms. A tenant can go to court, within six months of leaving the property, to recover whatever was paid above that figure, and separately to ask the court to reset the whole lease to the statutory canone libero terms and a rent no higher than the statutory minimum (art. 13, commi 1, 2 and 6, L. 431/1998). The same reset right is available where the landlord simply never registered the lease at all.
Three scenarios
A tenant on a 4 plus 4 lease is offered a job in another city eighteen months into the term. The tenant can give the landlord six months' written notice citing the relocation and leave without waiting for the four-year term to run, using the gravi motivi route rather than negotiating an early exit as a favor.
A landlord wants an adult child to move into a flat currently let on a canone libero lease, at the lease's first four-year expiry. The landlord can decline the automatic renewal on that ground with six months' notice. If the child does not actually move in within twelve months of the tenant leaving, the former tenant can ask the court either to move back in on the old terms or to be paid at least thirty six months of the last rent.
A couple sign a 3 plus 2 canone concordato lease in a comune with a local rent agreement, to access the reduced 10 percent cedolare secca rate. At the three-year mark, neither side raises the subject of renewal. The lease is extended automatically for two more years at the same rent; the silence does not let the landlord raise the rent or end the lease on that basis alone.
Related pages
For how the rent itself is taxed under either regime, see cedolare secca. For what happens when a tenant falls behind on rent, see eviction for unpaid rent. For the wider landscape of Italian law this site covers, see our Italy hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a 4+4 and a 3+2 lease?
A 4+4 (canone libero) contract runs four years plus an automatic four-year renewal at a freely agreed rent. A 3+2 (canone concordato) contract runs three years plus a two-year extension at a rent kept within locally agreed bands, and it is the only route to the reduced 10 percent cedolare secca rate.
Can a landlord raise the rent whenever they want on a canone libero lease?
Only within what the parties agreed at signing. A canone libero lease still cannot be changed unilaterally mid-term, and any indexation follows whatever the contract itself provides.
How much notice does a tenant need to give to leave early?
Six months' written notice, for gravi motivi, on either type of lease (art. 3, comma 6, L. 431/1998); the lease itself may set a shorter period.
Can a landlord end the lease just to charge a new tenant more rent?
No. The grounds in art. 3 are limited to specific situations such as personal use, sale, or building work; wanting a higher rent from a replacement tenant is not one of them.
What happens if a landlord evicts a tenant claiming personal use, then re-lets the apartment instead?
The former tenant can go to court for reinstatement of the old lease or for a payment of at least thirty six months of the last rent, and separately keeps a right of first refusal if the landlord instead sells the property.
Is registering the lease optional if both sides agree to skip it?
No. Registration within thirty days is mandatory regardless of what the parties privately agree, and skipping it exposes the landlord to having the lease reset to the statutory minimum terms if the tenant later goes to court.
Are transitorio and student contracts a way around the ordinary minimum durations?
Only where a genuine temporary need or student status actually exists. They are separate, narrower contract types under art. 5, L. 431/1998, not a way to relabel an ordinary tenancy.
Sources and References
- art. 2, L. 9 dicembre 1998, n. 431, Modalita di stipula e di rinnovo dei contratti di locazione(normattiva.it).gov
- art. 3, L. 9 dicembre 1998, n. 431, Disdetta del contratto da parte del locatore(normattiva.it).gov
- art. 5, L. 9 dicembre 1998, n. 431, Contratti di locazione di natura transitoria(normattiva.it).gov
- art. 13, L. 9 dicembre 1998, n. 431, Patti contrari alla legge (registrazione)(normattiva.it).gov
- artt. 38 e 39, L. 27 luglio 1978, n. 392, Diritto di prelazione e diritto di riscatto(normattiva.it).gov
- art. 3, D.Lgs. 14 marzo 2011, n. 23, Cedolare secca sugli affitti (aliquota 10% canone concordato)(normattiva.it).gov
- Agenzia delle Entrate, Registrazione contratti di locazione fabbricati e affitto terreni(agenziaentrate.gov.it).gov
- Agenzia delle Entrate, Registrazione di un nuovo contratto, Quanto si paga (regime ordinario)(agenziaentrate.gov.it).gov
- Agenzia delle Entrate, Cedolare secca, Che cos'è (scheda informativa cittadini)(agenziaentrate.gov.it).gov