An error by a notary or an accountant can have very concrete consequences: an act that does not produce the expected effect, a lien discovered too late, a penalty, a missed deadline or a cost that could have been avoided. The question is not only whether the professional has committed an error, but whether that error breaches the obligations assumed and has caused precisely the loss you are suffering.
Compensation is not automatic. I will explain how to distinguish a simply unfavorable outcome from professional liability, which facts truly affect the response, and why engagement, documents, timing and the insurance policy deserve separate attention. The rules are the same even if the matter takes place in Milan: what changes is always the concrete content of the activity entrusted to the professional.
When a professional error can become compensable loss
A negative outcome alone is not enough. Civil liability arises when the professional does not correctly perform the due service and economically appreciable prejudice derives from that conduct. In the relationship with the client, general rules on the non-performance of obligations assume significance, in particular articles 1218 and 1223 of the civil code: it is necessary to link the breach of the obligation to the loss being claimed.
The engagement defines the starting point. It may result from an engagement letter, a power of attorney, written communication, an invoice accompanied by instructions or clear conclusive conduct. It is incorrect to attribute to the professional an activity that was not entrusted to them; likewise, a generic formula does not exclude the steps normally necessary to correctly perform the expressly requested activity.
Diligence is professional. Article 1176, second paragraph, of the civil code requires diligence to be assessed based on the nature of the activity exercised. This means that conduct is not compared to that of an ordinary person, but to the care and preparation required of those who perform that professional service. However, the assessment remains concrete: the engagement, available information, date of the activity and applicable rules at that time matter.
Negligence, technical difficulty and limits of the service
Not every error is compensable negligence. A choice may subsequently prove inconvenient without having been negligent at the time it was made. To speak of liability, one must identify an omission, a delay, inaccurate information or an activity performed without expected precautions. For example, getting a readily available piece of data wrong is different from tackling a genuinely uncertain interpretative issue.
Special difficulties carry precise weight. Article 2236 of the civil code limits liability to cases of intent or gross negligence when the service involves solving technical problems of special difficulty. This rule does not eliminate ordinary obligations of care, control and information. It operates only if the difficulty is truly exceptional and concerns the technical core of the service, not a routine activity performed superficially.
The client must also cooperate. Documents delivered late, incomplete instructions, uncommunicated information or decisions made despite a warning may affect causation and the quantification of the loss. This does not turn every shortcoming of the client into an exemption for the professional: it is necessary to understand whether that conduct made the due activity impossible or unnecessarily late, or contributed to producing the prejudice.
What changes between notary and accountant
The notary performs a function that does not coincide solely with signing the deed. Within the limits of the engagement and the checks required by the transaction, the service includes preparatory activities, drafting and receipt of the deed, as well as subsequent steps when they fall to the notary. The notarization law also contains specific prohibitions: article 28 prohibits the notary from receiving or authenticating acts expressly prohibited by law or manifestly contrary to public policy or morals. You can consult the text of the provision in the notarial law, article 28.
For the notary, the content of the transaction is decisive. In a sale and purchase, for example, it is not enough to state that a problem concerning the property has emerged. It is necessary to establish what check was required, what data appeared from the registers or available documents, what the deed stated and whether the loss derives precisely from the omitted activity or from a subsequent event. The conduct of the parties, such as the delivery of incomplete documentation or the conscious acceptance of a clearly indicated risk, may also be relevant.
The accountant is liable for the activity actually entrusted. The professional order of chartered accountants and accounting experts is regulated by legislative decree no. 139 of 28 June 2005, published in the Official Journal. In disputes, tax returns, communications, entries, financial statements, corporate procedures or tax deadlines often matter. The point is not the professional title in the abstract, but what the professional was supposed to do, by what deadline and with what data received from the client.
A penalty does not always prove liability. If a step has not been performed, a distinction must be made between the omission attributable to the professional and the delay caused by missing documents, ungranted proxies, sums not made available or instructions received past the useful deadline. It is equally important to verify whether, without the contested error, the penalty or higher outlay would have occurred anyway.
Causation and proof of loss: the two most delicate steps
Causation links the error to the loss. It is not enough to show that conduct was imprecise and that a loss exists: it must be shown that, with correct and timely performance, that loss would not have occurred or would have been smaller. This comparison between what happened and what would reasonably have happened without the non-performance requires verifiable facts, not mere assumptions.
Loss must be identified item by item. It may consist of a sum paid without having to incur it, costs necessary to remedy the situation, penalties, interest, loss of an asset or a right, or lost profits that are demonstrable and not merely eventual. Expenses incurred after the error do not always coincide with compensable loss: it is necessary to separate the cost that would have been incurred anyway from that caused by the contested conduct.
Documents serve to reconstruct essential steps. For a notary, the proposal or preliminary contract, the final deed, available land registry searches, correspondence and subsequent deeds may be relevant. For an accountant, the engagement, proxies, transmission receipts, deadline communications, delivered documents and administrative provisions generally count. It is not necessary to accumulate paperwork indiscriminately: each document should help prove the obligation, error, timing or economic consequence.
Timeliness avoids additional problems. When a possible error emerges, it is useful to keep originals, avoid untraceable modifications in communications, and not let deadlines related to the deed or provision that generated the loss expire. Limitation periods and their starting point depend on the nature of the claim and the facts of the matter; for this reason, it is imprudent to calculate them solely from the date the error seems to have occurred.
Claim for damages, possible remedies and insurance policy
The first choice is to understand whether the loss can still be avoided. Sometimes it is possible to correct a step, challenge a deed, submit an application, supplement a procedure or negotiate a solution with the counterparty. A timely remedy does not in itself exclude liability, but it can limit the loss. Unjustifiably waiving a reasonable alternative, instead, can make it more difficult to attribute all subsequent consequences to the professional.
The claim must be detailed. It is useful to indicate what activity was entrusted, what conduct is contested, when the prejudice manifested itself and what sums or consequences are considered dependent on the error. A generic dispute makes it harder to open a serious dialogue and does not help distinguish due activity from merely desired activity. If the matter requires technical assessments, the reconstruction must remain anchored to available data.
The policy does not replace the assessment of liability. Notaries are subject to specific insurance rules; the Ministry of Justice recalls the obligation to cover professional civil liability and the minimum coverage limits system on the page dedicated to the decree on notaries' professional liability policies. For any coverage, however, three levels must be distinguished: the professional's liability, the existence of the policy and the concrete operation of the guarantee. Limits, deductibles, effective period, claim notification and exclusions may affect the insurance relationship, but they do not automatically turn a claim into a payment.
An agreement may be preferable, but should not be accepted blindly. A settlement proposal must be read for what it actually governs: amount, waivers, parties involved, timing and consequences for any residual claims. If the loss is not yet defined, a general waiver may have broader effects than appears from the formula used. When there is no room for a settlement, judicial initiatives or dispute resolution tools provided for the specific case remain available.
Frequently asked questions
Can I claim compensation even if I signed the notarial deed?
Yes, the signature does not automatically exclude a claim. However, one must read what the deed declares and what information was made understandable before execution. If the risk or lien was clearly indicated and consciously accepted, the assessment changes; if instead the problem depends on an omitted check or compliance step, the signature alone does not resolve the matter.
Does a tax penalty prove that the accountant is liable?
No, it is an element to be linked to the engagement. The penalty may depend on an omitted activity by the professional, but also on documents received late, inaccurate data or missing instructions. It is necessary to verify whether the compliance was entrusted, whether the deadline was concretely achievable and whether the penalty would have been avoided with diligent conduct.
Does the professional policy guarantee the payment of damages?
No, not automatically. The policy may offer coverage, but the professional's liability and the concrete operation of the guarantee must be ascertained. Limits, deductibles, date of the event, date of the claim and contractual conditions may have an impact. For this reason, a compensation claim should not be limited to asking whether insurance exists.
Must I first submit a disciplinary report?
No, it is not a necessary step to claim compensation. Disciplinary proceedings and civil claims have different functions: the former concerns professional rules, the latter aims to ascertain a loss and its connection with conduct. A report may have its own utility, but it does not replace proof of the engagement, error and economic prejudice.
What documents is it useful to keep from the outset?
Above all, keep proof of the sequence of facts. The engagement, fee quote, proxies, emails, messages, receipts, signed deeds, land registry searches, administrative provisions and proof of payments help reconstruct obligations, timing and loss. It is preferable to keep original files and complete communications, without extracting only the sentences that seem favorable to one's position.
An initial guidance on the matter
The right question is concrete: what activity was due, what fact proves the error and what loss derived from it? If you have already gathered the main deeds and want to understand whether these three steps find confirmation in your situation, you can contact me.