Mortgages

It will be very difficult to get an Italian mortgage especially as its a half done house.  The legal maximum is 80% of the value, that is now commonly down to 60%.  If you can get a mortgage through a foreign lender do it - the paperwork, translation and so on makes it unnecessarily horrible going Italian.   Your residency may be Italian but it all depend where you earn.  

Would it be possible to release monies from your current UK dwelling. This might be easier. Dealing with a known bureaucracy. 

It is virtually impossible to find a mortgage in Italy at the moment unless you are an employee in Italy. I would try Barclays Italia if you bank with Barclays in the UK. Best of luck.

Thanks for your suggestions everyone. I have discovered Barclays do Italian mortgages both for Italian residents and non-res Brits with homes in the UK so it'll be interesting to see how they'll view us. Re-mortgaging in the Uk is as much a nightmare as Italy seems to be now. I also thought given the currency issues it might be safer to have a mortgage that would keep pace with what the euro was doing in Italy as that's where I'll be resident...if the very unlikely event that the euro goes in Italy I guess the mortgage would just be rolled over into lire...?

... for a UK mortgage on an Italian property. Well it is without knowing the impact on the Euro going... If you were to take a UK mortgage to buy in Italy and they lend you in £'s then you owe them in £'s, but if the Euro went your Italy property could be worth 25-50% less in £'s.. Now in €'s with a UK income, then you would be a lot better off should all go wrong... Perhaps a bad time to be buying.... :(

We remortgaged on our current home with First Direct in order to buy over in Italy - it was really straightforward (as is most things when it comes to banking with First Direct)   I think it's a million dollar/euro/lira question as to what will happen with the currency if things do go pear shaped - fingers crossed it doesn't come to that

It surprises me that people think of a devaluation of the euro against the £.  With our globval market, and all the other b(£%/== foisted on us in the 90's, do people really think that the £ will remain untouched and even a bit frilly round the edges if the euor goes belly up.  UK£ will suffer as much as anyone else - the euro zone is UK biggest market after all. 

You cab have a mortgage to renovate your's home in Italy , by an Italian Bank ,even in these times, to have the income abroad and not be resident in Italy, not a limit. I do this work every day for my clients. you can ask , about me , to my clents , here > http://www.lifeinitaly.it/Testimonial/index.php 

..by a Euro decline, quite correct, but no way as much as Italy and it's something you really need to consider. Read any market papers and you will find money is coming in to the UK from Italy as opposed to going to Germany or indeed Switzerland... I personally also don't understand why, but if the markets (players) decide that way, then that's how it will go. 

Everyone will be affected by any major problems that the Euro may have. I fully agree with Ram's opinion.

... but some countries more than others...