Just bought a house in Abruzzo

[maisie21]

Hi Kay
We are back having spent a week with no hot water(gas still not connected) and no pressure to our water supply. It has been a fun week.
We have not seen the builder as we are still waiting for the DIA document but if you have an email address I can give you the telephone number of the girl that is liaising with him on our behalf.
Judy

[maisie21]

Hi Barry
We have just arrived back from Italy.
If you have any good connections in the area that we could speak to that would be great. We have got a good contact in Ofena now, the local joiner/carpenter has made us some beautiful internal doors and we will certainly use him again when the work progresses.
I think we may be too old for the new club that is opening up in Ofena, unfortunately I cannot class myself as a younger person.
Judy.

[Stella Artois]

Originally Posted by Barry

No problem.

If we had to do it again knowing what we do now I would spend a little more time and look on our own, find a notary and a geomtre and skip the real estate firms entirely. It would take longer but I think it would be more enjoyable.

Hello Barry

We seem to have succeded with pushing the process forward and should have all the paperwork sorted by the end of this month, but as usual in such a complex process the are more questions to ask ( Hope you still don't mind)

1. As for transferring the utility bill over to your name you said the authority did it for you fairly soon after the house was purchased, how does it work exactly? Do we need to approach the council ourselves somehow or contact each of the utility companies separately?
2. And how did you know how much the annual tax on the house whould be? WE were advised by HAI to employ an accountant there, but as you might guess we whouldn't be really happy with that ( bearing in mind our experience with HAI)

Cheers!

[maisie21]

Hi Stella
We have also purchased a house in Ofena through HAI.
The rates for the year were 59 euros per person, we used the accountant recommended by HAI this year due to time constraints but his charges were 300 euros, next year we will be doing it ourselves.
If you bought through HAI have you spoken to their 'Girl Friday' Francesca Palmy she is very good and reliable and totally trustworthy? As regards the utility bills the water and electricity were transferred to our names when we purchased the house but for the gas supply we had to meet with the Gas supply company at the council offices in Ofena to sign the paperwork and arrange to have a meter fitted which cost us 540 euros(standard charge).

[Stella Artois]

Originally Posted by Paola

Hi Everyone, I am an estate agent in Italy and am pretty familiar with the "right to sell" problem that crosses many people. You see, in Italy to sell a house you need to have the original deed which is the deed that states that you are the owner of the house. Many abandoned homes are taken in possess by one relative and can not be sold unless they go by "usucapione" Ususcapione is a way of having possession of a property and get the original deed. This process takes quite some time. In fact, you have to proove that you have possess of the house and the judge decides wether or not to give you the original deed. It could take more than one year.
What I reccomend to all those purchasing a home in Italy, is to ask to see the original deed before making an offer. I would not purchase a house that is not legally "sellable" by those that say they are the real owners but are not. If I can be of further help for anyone, feel free to ask. Happy house hunting to all!
Paola

Hi Paola

Just one question, what's a visura, please? And what's the difference between a visura and an original deed, please?

Many thanks

[Stella Artois]

Originally Posted by maisie21

Hi Stella
We have also purchased a house in Ofena through HAI.
The rates for the year were 59 euros per person, we used the accountant recommended by HAI this year due to time constraints but his charges were 300 euros, next year we will be doing it ourselves.
If you bought through HAI have you spoken to their 'Girl Friday' Francesca Palmy she is very good and reliable and totally trustworthy? As regards the utility bills the water and electricity were transferred to our names when we purchased the house but for the gas supply we had to meet with the Gas supply company at the council offices in Ofena to sign the paperwork and arrange to have a meter fitted which cost us 540 euros(standard charge).

Hi Maisie21

Thanks very much for your reply! No, we haven't spoken to Francesca yet, so unfortunately can't provide you with any information on this.

How did you transfer the water and electricity, please? And could you recommend a cheap and easy way of sorting out and paying the rates, please? Is it easy to work out how much you pay in rates? How will you be arranging it this year, if you don't mind me asking?

Sorry for bombarding you with so many questions, but can I ask which notary you used for your purchase, please? Did you have any problems at all with getting the documents registered? We're with Maria Russo.

Many thanks!

[maisie21]

Hi Stella
The notary that we used was Giovanni De Matteis who is based in Chieti. The staff from HAI took us through the whole purchasing procedure and even took us to meet the notary, we cannot fault them on the initial support that they gave us. However, we have had to make a formal complaint to HAI about two of the agents that work for them. We now deal with Francesca who has been with us to purchase tiles and beds for our house as she acts as an interpreter for us.As I said previously, we used an accountant this year to pay the rates because we were getting frustrated trying to explain to him what we wanted but if you contact Walter Pezzi at HAI(financial advisor) he can make the calculations and payments for you and is a lot cheaper than an accountant. We are hoping to pay the rates ourselves next year.

[maisie21]

Hi
Does anyone know of where we can buy a mains gas cooker in Abruzzo?
I don't want duel fuel or bottled gas but they are the only ones that we have found so far.
We are hoping to look for a suitable one when we come over again at the end of July.
Judy.

[Barry]

Hi All,

We can't go to Italy until September and everyone was worried about how we would pay the house taxes so my 3rd cousin paid it for me. The town had given us a bill last year so we just paid the same (161 euro). The town website finally posted this years rate and as it hasn't changed I guess we are ok. After a year of trying we finally got Enel to change the electric bill to our name and send it to our bank in Pescara for payment. I'am still not exactly sure what it is costing as they send a bill every 2 months but don't collect for 6 months. It looks like 14 euro/month plus usage.
Keep me posted on your house as I know I have relatives in Ofena but haven't managed to run them all down yet.
Barry

[Barry]

re: Gas Cookers

There is a big building supply store in San Pio called Marini's. They have everything you could want. The only problem is they have these show kitchen's and bathrooms set up on the second floor with all the fanciest appliances, that my wife now wants in our house!

Barry