If i'm buying a piece of land for

Chris, safety first, use a notaio. There is a procedure whereby registered farmers adjoining  ag land, have a "right of first refusal" that can be initiated up to one year from your purchase, so should that situation exist, you would want to secure waivers of rights from any such possible claimants.We encountered such a situation several years ago where the adjoining "farmer" would not execute a waiver so we could make a clean purchase of the property. Research developed that the adjoining "farmer," was not properly registered as such so we were able to complete the purchase unimpeded.Believe there are a few forum participants who have experienced this in a negative way who might want to "chime in."

I totally agree with the advice given by "Casa del Campanile". Only the notary can give you the title and register your purchase. A simple receipt or a private contract is not enough. Notary costs are not high as they are based on the purchase price.

Thank you Casa and Gala.  I realise i'll need to go through the notaio, and your absolutely right, safety first.I was just wondering if either of you have feel for the notaio fees?  We paid our house purchase fees on the cadastral value rather than the contract value of the house which is quite common.  Presumably the notaio fees will be a percentage of €3000 being the contract price or some lower alternative valuation.  Presumably, there must be a minimum fee for a notaio to act, €500 euro or something?

Notary fees are variable; however, I would say that you would be paying the highest rate, possibly about 3 to 4% and maybe a bit more for conveyance keeping in mind the purchase price. Also, I understand that the registration tax on land is higher than the one which applies to the purchase of homes ( I think that it is around 18%).in any case, you would spend far much more on painkillers for the monster headache you would get if you do not register your purchase 

Noptaio fees are set buy law with minimums and maximums although he has leeway within these margins.  If its agricultural land you will be paying tax at 11%of the purchase price on top, plus stamp and registration taxes.  it will probably cost you about 1500 euros to buy it, and unfortunately there is no way around it.  

I think you will find, that if you want the land to be yours legally, you will have to do it through a notaio.