Finding a Home In
Italy
By Shannon
McGrath
|
|
.
| Finding a Home In
Italy
Whether you plan to rent or buy,
finding your home will be a major step in your Italian relocation.
If you haven’t previously lived in Italy, I would highly recommend that
you rent rather than buy, at least initially. It’s the best way to
know not only if Italy is the place you want to live, but if that is the
region or city for you. The time would also allow you to grow more
personally aquainted with Italian ways, and to do some networking; the
combination of which could save you a good deal of money when you purchase
your home.
Apartments & Houses
If you are planning on living in
a city, it is likely that you will be living in an apartment versus a house.
The majority of multiple floor palazzi have long ago been divided up into
separate units, and over the years been legally passed down to different
members of the family, dividing the buildings up for good. These
buildings are ancient, and generally have not had shafts of the building
destroyed for an elevator. Newer buildings are more likely to be
thus equipped.
While first floor apartments are
easier to access, in dense inner city neighborhoods, higher floors will
have better light, and possibly balconies or roof access. In Italy,
the ground floor, piano terreno, is not the first floor. The Italian
first floor is the American second floor, and so on. Elevators will
be marked with a ‘T’ for the ground floor. The American second floor,
Italian first floor, is also known as the piano nobile, or noble’s floor,
and in many buildings will have larger windows, and/or higher ceilings.
Expect smaller spaces, especially
in cities. With population density as it is, Italians are not accustomed
to the almost wasted space seen in American homes. I’ve often seen
kitchens located in hallways. While they may be ridiculously smaller
in scale than an American kitchen, they still produce marvelous meals.
If space is high on your list, be sure to point it out to agencies before
you look at too many homes of smaller dimensions. You may even consider
a country home, which will generally have all-round larger spaces. |
| The Author Shannon McGrath
- Is the author of Living In Italy - The Definitive Guide For Relocating
To Italy - a PDF report on living in Italy - To learn more about the report
click on the link below - |
|
Living
In Italy - The Definitive Guide
|
|
|
..
|
Where You Get For What You
Pay
|
|
|
|
Windows are usually large and unscreened.
This creates wonderful atmosphere, but can become problematic with insects
such as mosquitoes. Windows are often used along with fans
to cool your living space, instead of closing everything up and using air
conditioning.
Italian homes almost never have closets.
I’ve never seen one, but I imagine that you could probably find one somewhere.
Italians use stand-alone bureaus, which can be quite attractive, to hold
their clothes. Don’t rule out a home due to its lack of closets.
Modern additions, such as electricity
and water should never be overlooked. Don’t get me wrong when I say
‘modern’ addition. If the home you are looking at was built a couple
hundred years ago, all of our every day conveniences are modern additions.
Check and make sure electrical outlets are located in every room and functioning.
Turn on the water and be sure that both hot and cold function. Flush
the toilet, and turn on the shower. Don’t count on real-estate agents
to point out the negatives of a place they’re trying to rent or sell.
My first apartment had a drain located
in the center of the bathroom rather than in the shower. The landlord
and agents assured me that it was perfectly fine. Combined with sporadically
slow drainage or blockage, this became a serious inconvenience, and an
occasional embarrassment throughout my lease. |
.
Additionally, my main heater didn’t
work. Of course, I had no idea until winter rolled around and I attempted
to use it. When I brought it to my landlord’s attention she looked
at me quite innocently and told me that it hadn’t worked for years.
I was left with a single radiator in the bedroom. This, however,
was time controlled by the landlord to turn on in the morning and evening
only. It was noticeably on more when the landlord was at home than
on her regular work days. I ended up using my gas oven as an additional
heater, and also purchased an electric space heater.
Doorbells are another modern addition,
which seem to often be broken. If your apartment is located on the
second or third floor, knocking won’t work. The Italian act of shouting
up to windows is generally difficult for Anglo-Saxons to accustom themselves
to. It’s better just to check and make sure it works in the first
place.
This brings up another point.
If you sign a lease on the agreement that something additionally is done
to the house, don’t count on it happening – at least not quickly.
Three months into my six months lease I canceled my request for a phone
line to be put in. It had been agreed that it would be installed
entirely at my own expense, and I wasn’t willing to do that for a period
of three months or less. Also, the doorbell of that apartment was
to be fixed the week after I moved in. Electricians came now and
then throughout the six months and fiddled with the doorbell, but it never
worked.
Agencies
Agencies advertise in free papers,
regular papers, and in their office windows. You’ll immediately recognize
a real estate agency by the window full of ads for the different apartments
or houses they have available to rent or sell at that time. Generally,
if you don’t see it there, they don’t have it, but it never hurts to ask
and I got one apartment doing just that.
.
| Before you begin working
with an agency, check that their fees are acceptable. In rental agreements
most agencies charge a month’s rent for a six-month lease, two month’s
rent for a year lease, and a steadily higher amount for longer leases,
but not at that same rate. To most Americans these rates seem ridiculous,
as a rental agreement which included only a couple hours of their time
will earn them not just a month’s rent or more from you, but an equivalent
amount from the landowner as well.
When selling property, agents usually
charge between 2.5% and 3% of the final sale price. This is paid
on the completion of the sale. As the buyer, you’ll find yourself
paying the agency, plus taxes and fees to other people involved in the
transaction.
When you find a home an agency is
advertising that you like, you’ll set an appointment to go out and view
the property with the agent. If you’re looking for a house in the
country, you may want to line up several at once, and the agent may just
give you directions and a key for you to see them yourself. In a
busy agency, or for a popular piece of real estate, you may have to be
added to a waiting list to see the place, and only if each person before
you who goes to look doesn’t sign a contract would you get to take a look
yourself. |
|
.
After coming to an agreement on
a lease or purchase, both parties sign the contract. This, however,
is not yet a legal agreement until the appropriate francobollo, tax stamp,
has been purchased and affixed. I found that out several months into
my first lease. While the agents did help me out with a landlord
whom wanted to overcharge me on utilities and make use of my security deposit
during the lease, they never bothered to finalize the lease with a francobollo,
so if anything had come to court, it would have been my fault for not having
taken care of it myself.
.
|
Living In Italy -
The Definitive Guide For Relocating To Italy - Living
In Italy - The Definitive Guide For Relocating To Italy - Not
everyone can become an Italian, but you can still live in Italy and learn
to act like an Italian. Q: If you live long enough in Italy
can you become Marcello Mastroianni? A: Perhaps not, but you
can wear a hat like Marcello, ride in a Lamborghini, eat spaghetti, and
learn to gesture artistically when you talk with your hands. Italy is the
source to which like salmon we all swim back to as if to our spiritual
home - - Those who doubt this have only to visit Rome in the summertime
when it seems that the entire world has swum back with the intention of
spawning on the Spanish Steps. Ah, Italy, Che bella! If you don't
want to live in Italy you're already half dead. See a doctor! Or better
yet, if you want to get well and be quickened, read this eBook and move
to Italy. It's the appropriate thing to do. |
|
|
.
Leases are arranged so that payments
are made either to the owner or to the rental agency. At the end
of the lease, the agents come to re-inspect the property and see that no
damage has been accrued, and that final payments are complete.
Renting
Real estate agencies are the safest
route to take in renting, since they are licensed professionals familiar
with all of the laws regulating rental agreements. They not only
assist in finding your new home, and write up the legal paperwork, but
continue to act as intermediaries concerning all problems concerning your
lease which may later arise. For instance, if something breaks and
the landlord will not fix it, you would contact the agency. At the
same time, if you did not pay your rent, the landlord could have the agency
take care of the problem rather than handling it herself. As I just
described above, agencies are not always as discriminating and helpful
about the law and your rights as a renter as they could be.
Local papers also advertise apartments
and houses for rent, but word of mouth is the Italian way. Universities
have message boards where apartments or rooms for rent are commonly posted.
Aimed at students, these often have shorter leases, but can contain some
of the best deals out there. However, if you want something long-term
it’s still worth asking. These same message boards and newspapers
are a great place for you to post an ad for specifically what you are looking
for. Going these routes will get you a cheaper deal, at least cutting
out the cost of the agency.
.
| Foreigners are often
assumed to be rich. A friend of mine was introduced by one Italian
to a group of his friends as being American and having come to Italy with
‘due sachi di soldi,’ proverbially meaning a lot of money - which certainly
wasn’t the case. I experienced this problem often when looking for
an apartment.
Rental rates generally increase by
a small percentage each year in accordance with the government’s annual
cost of living reports. Rent is sometimes paid quarterly, and a common
lease is for four years, plus another four years. You can find yearly
leases, and more short-term housing is available in university or high
tourism areas.
Furnished housing is not very common,
as Italians do not regularly move around like Americans do. Short-term
tourist housing is furnished and fully equipped, but otherwise partially
or unfurnished apartments are the norm.
‘Unfurnished’ housing means exactly
that; there will be no fixtures, such as lights, of any sort, along with
no kitchen appliances. If you’re renting, you might consider partially
furnished lodgings, which would generally include fixtures and appliances.
Furnished housing comes with furniture, but usually without plates, cooking
supplies, or linen. In furnished housing, the renter is responsible
for regular repairs, and the owner is only responsible for large repairs. |
|
Nana and Bread
|
|
Italy Has A Record Of Enduring
|
|
|
|
.
Renter Rights
Renters have a lot of rights in Italy,
at least if they have residency status. The irony is that landlords
are not legally permitted to ask if a renter has this status. Therefore
it is generally assumed that if you are foreign you don’t have residency,
creating a marked preference of western foreigners by landlords.
Stability is important in Italy,
so Italian law makes it difficult for you to lose your job or lose your
home. Evictions can become long and drawn out, even if the tenant
is not paying his or her rent. A case must first go to court, which
involves an additional waiting period.
Buying
The only thing you need to buy property
in Italy is a tax code, codice fiscale, so that you can pay property tax.
You should be able to even get a temporary codice without other visas and
permits if you wish to buy before you’ve taken care of long-term visas.
This is the kind of information, however, that might change depending on
which official you ask.
The first part of home buying in
Italy is called the Compromesso di vendita. When both parties agree
on a price, they sign this contract, and you pay an initial 10%-30% of
the total sale price. If the seller pulls out, they are required
to pay additional funds back to the prospective buyer. A notary public
oversees this, and the same person is required to oversee the sale’s completion,
il rogito notarile. They are generally paid 2.5% of the declared
land value of the purchase.
The completion of the sale is generally
quicker than in other countries, because fewer checks will be made on the
property. If you’re looking for reassurances, have the property checked
out yourself, and hire a lawyer to check for restrictive clauses or debts
involved in the property.
At this point you would need to pay
a land registration tax and a separate land registration fee. Italy
has special laws to help families purchase their first home, so as a resident,
your new home in Italy would fall under these prima casa regulations, and
your registration tax will cost you much less. You would normally
pay 10% of the statutory value, but under prima casa that drops to just
3%. If you do not yet have residency status, then you would have
to pay the full 10%.
If you are buying brand new property,
you’ll need to pay a Value Added Tax (VAT) of 9%. If your new purchase
is classified as luxury property, the tax jumps to 19%. Additionally
you’ll have the 1% stamp tax. All taxes are calculated using the
declared land registry value.
Even as a non-resident homeowner
in Italy, you could become liable for all sorts of Italian taxes, including
income tax. Check out the details of your particular situation to
cover your back.
Mortgages
Italian mortgages require a 30% payment
of the purchase price, and can be repaid over a 5-25 year span. You
must have all mortgages repaid by the age of 70. Possible income
from renting the property is not considered when lenders assess your mortgage
eligibility.
.
|
The Author Shannon
McGrath - Is the author of Living In Italy - The Definitive Guide For
Relocating To Italy - an eBook report on living in Italy - To learn more
about the report click on the link below -
|
|
|
.
|
