key: agreed-rent title: "Canone concordato in Pavia: are you paying too much?" description: "What the territorial agreement is, why landlords benefit from it, and how to tell whether the rent you are being asked for is within the bands." category: contratti order: 3 updated: 2026-09-28
The contracts guide is about choosing between a student transitional contract and a canone concordato. This one looks at it from another angle: how to tell whether what you are being asked for is a sensible price, and what the territorial agreement has to do with it.
What the territorial agreement is
In Pavia, as in almost every Italian municipality, there is an agreement signed between landlord associations and tenant associations. For each area of the city and each type of property it sets a rent band the contract must stay within: a minimum and a maximum per square metre.
Both the student transitional contract and the canone concordato fall under that agreement. They are not free-market contracts: the price cannot be whatever the landlord wants.
The agreement also defines the factors that move the rent within the band: floor area, condition, lift, heating, furnishing, energy rating, area of the city.
Why it benefits the landlord
This is the point that explains everything else. With a registered canone concordato contract, the landlord gets:
- a reduced flat-rate tax (a lower rate than the ordinary one);
- reduced IMU property tax in municipalities with housing pressure;
- a reduction in registration tax.
In practice: they take less on paper, but keep more of it. That is why an informed landlord prefers the concordato to a free-market rent, and why sometimes they propose it themselves.
Knowing this helps you: if someone tells you “the concordato is not worth it for me”, it almost always means they have never worked it out.
How to tell whether your rent is within the band
There is no single number: it depends on the area, the square metres and the features. But there are three concrete things you can do.
1. Ask for the attestazione di conformità. To claim the tax benefits, a concordato contract drawn up without the associations' assistance must come with an attestation issued by an organisation that signed the agreement, certifying that the rent falls within the band. If the landlord has one, the rent has been checked by somebody other than you. If they do not, ask why.
2. Compare with the real market. Look at what similar rooms cost in the same area, on this site and elsewhere. A rent 30% above the area average, for the same size and features, deserves a question.
3. Have it checked at an advice desk. In Pavia, SUNIA, SICET and UNIAT run tenant advice desks. Take the contract and the property details and they will tell you whether the rent is within the band. It is free or nearly so, and takes half an hour.
What you get out of it
The canone concordato is not only a constraint on the landlord:
- The rent sits inside a band, so there is a ceiling.
- The tax relief for out-of-town students works with these contracts, provided they are registered and paid traceably.
- In some municipalities the concordato gives access to council rent contributions: check the Comune di Pavia website for open schemes.
Three things to check on the contract
- That it is registered. Without registration there is no tax benefit, no residency and no relief — and the problem is mostly yours.
- That it cites the territorial agreement. A concordato contract must refer to it explicitly. If it does not, it is not a concordato: it is a free-market rent under another name.
- That the APE is attached. The energy performance certificate is not a formality: the energy rating affects both the rent band and your bills.
If the rent is outside the band
A rent above what the agreement allows can be challenged, and the landlord loses the tax benefits. But before it comes to a dispute, bear in mind that the most effective route is almost always pointing it out with the numbers in hand: a landlord at risk of losing the reduced tax rate has a concrete reason to fix it.
For a specific case, go to a tenants' union. We do not give legal advice, and this guide is no substitute for it.
In short
- Student transitional and canone concordato both sit inside the territorial agreement: the rent is not free-market.
- The concordato benefits the landlord on tax, even though they take less.
- The attestazione di conformità is the quickest way to know whether the rent is within the band.
- Without registration you have neither tax relief nor residency.
- Pavia's tenant advice desks will check it for free.
If you have a contract in hand and cannot read it, send it to us: in the Private Group we go through it together before you sign.