1469 Italian Lawers in the UK

[QUOTE=tuscanhills]Can anyone recommend a good Italian Law specialist in the UK? I suspect most are based in London.[/QUOTE]
I believe that there are about a dozen threads on this forum recommending Italian Lawyers who can deal with English speakers, based here or in the UK. But I can't be bothered to search for you...try the search facility at the top of the page. search "lawyers"

28 hits, try this one...[url]http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=353&highlight=lawyers[/url]

how expensive is your property?
Most bilingual lawyers will charge you LOADS of money.Ignore the smarmy lovely sales pitch-they want your money!!!!!!!!they want your money!!!!!!!!!!!

[QUOTE=apples]how expensive is your property?
Most bilingual lawyers will charge you LOADS of money.Ignore the smarmy lovely sales pitch-they want your money!!!!!!!!they want your money!!!!!!!!!!![/QUOTE]

Apples...

Would be nice to see an example to back up your argument. You need not mention names but at least provide us with your own personal experience of how you have been ripped off.

[QUOTE=apples]!!!!!!!!they want your money!!!!!!!!!!![/QUOTE]

We were coming at it from how much we could save (or not lose!) than how much we'd spend. If it saves us a long wrangle on a sale, then it could be money well spent.

[QUOTE=tuscanhills]Can anyone recommend a good Italian Law specialist in the UK? I suspect most are based in London.[/QUOTE]
Hi,
I have a list sent to me from the embassy somewhere. I have used one in Yorkshire. If you let me know where would be best I'll try and route it out for you.
Regards
Carolyn

cioa a tutti,why in particular an english lawyer?/ just curious

Here we go again.

[email]gabriele.giambrone@giambronelaw.co.uk[/email]

[QUOTE=tuscanhills]Can anyone recommend a good Italian Law specialist in the UK? I suspect most are based in London.[/QUOTE]

We have also appointed Giambrone & Law in London, excellent service (I have received an email sent on a saturday in relation to an urgent matter relating to a couple of clauses of the Compromesso) and the best thing is that their legal fees are fixed, and very reasonable.

Would definitely recommend them to those buying in Italy. PM me if you want more info!

Warning! We have just, to our complete regret, used an Italian speaking lawyer in the UK to assist with our property purchase in Piemonte (its ours now and just wonderful, by the way!). They charge an absoultely frightening sum of money on the grounds that it would make our property purchase safer and easier - we were sucked in to the tune of £2,000 on a property costing E55,000!). If we had had any idea just how LITTLE they would do for this money we would never have engaged them. The Estate Agents in Italy were fantastic and did most of the work and the firm in the UK did very little indeed ... and most of what they did do they did through the Estate Agent! Our advice ?.. find a good estate agent in Italy and don't touch MONEY GRABBING UK law firms who think you are a soft touch because you don't know the rules! OK? :mad:

[QUOTE=nssjs1]Warning! We have just, to our complete regret, used an Italian speaking lawyer in the UK to assist with our property purchase in Piemonte (its ours now and just wonderful, by the way!). They charge an absoultely frightening sum of money on the grounds that it would make our property purchase safer and easier - we were sucked in to the tune of £2,000 on a property costing E55,000!). If we had had any idea just how LITTLE they would do for this money we would never have engaged them. :mad:[/QUOTE]

It is postings like this that really put people off using a solicitor during the purchase and then they regret NOT doing so afterwards when problems arise.

What firm/lawyer did you engage? Surely it would be good to know who to recommend and what solicitors charges too much. Quality of service should be also taken into account. Generalisation does not help in the forum, there are good Italian solicitors as well as bad ones, but same goes with estate agents/banks/notaries.

Were you informed that the cost was going to be £2000? did you agree to this price before instructing this solicitor?

We are using Gabriel at Giambrone Law and the services provided by this firm have been excellent so far. The fee has been quoted at the very beginning, we accepted it and now we have set this money aside for legal costs, together with the rest (taxes, notary fees, agents fees etc)

We have been recommended this firm by other users of the forum and the amount of work carried out by our solicitor (long emails received in the evening, phone calls to explain what is happening in italy, etc) fully justifies their costs. Plus the fact that Gabriel is so fluent in both Italian and English makes us feel a lot safer about the whole process.

As far as i am aware, Giambrone Law charges £1500 for purchases up to €80,000 but i may be wrong! John Howell charges about £2,000 (but they are based in Covent Garden!) plus some extras for codice fiscale and so on.

I too have just used Gabriel and I think their service is wonderful and I too had to sit down when I got the bills. But at the end of the day it is worth every penny. I dont care what some of you are saying about rip off. All I know is in a few months I can sleep in my Italian bed knowing the house is mine and every thing has been done legally and all bases covered. Gabriel is even dealing with my divorce making it legal under Italian law so my ex hubby cant get his grubby hands on my house. This is the first ever property I have owned alone and Gabriel and the rest of the team have been amazing.
So yes some of you may not want or need a solicitor but I for one would not choose another way or another solicitor if ever I bought another house.
I sometimes sit back and think we English are a funny breed! You live once so make the most of it and stop moaning at Solicitors charges no one likes to pay out but this firm are registered with the Law Society and all I can suggest to the person saying rip off if you dont like it study to be a lawyer then!

[QUOTE=nssjs1]Warning! We have just, to our complete regret, used an Italian speaking lawyer in the UK to assist with our property purchase in Piemonte (its ours now and just wonderful, by the way!). They charge an absoultely frightening sum of money on the grounds that it would make our property purchase safer and easier - we were sucked in to the tune of £2,000 on a property costing E55,000!). If we had had any idea just how LITTLE they would do for this money we would never have engaged them. The Estate Agents in Italy were fantastic and did most of the work and the firm in the UK did very little indeed ... and most of what they did do they did through the Estate Agent! Our advice ?.. find a good estate agent in Italy and don't touch MONEY GRABBING UK law firms who think you are a soft touch because you don't know the rules! OK? [img]http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/images/smilies/mad.gif[/img][/QUOTE]

I'm guessing a well known (and certainly well promoted in the various magazines) international law firm based pretty close to your home location!;)

We know someone who used these people. They said they where very good, however I know they had to translate their own contract :eek: We have made an enquiry and not having been anywhere else 'yet' they do seem quite reasonable.

Have a look at their web site here.
[URL=http://www.internationalpropertylaw.com/Templates/IPL_Default.asp?modeID=&DoLogin=]International Property Law[/URL]

........... are we getting ourselves into hot water?

If we look at the "dubious agents" thread, I seem to recall it's no name, no pack drill, so suggest any link to sites is 'reviewed'.

.......or am I just being too cautious?

[QUOTE=tuscanhills]........... are we getting ourselves into hot water?

If we look at the "dubious agents" thread, I seem to recall it's no name, no pack drill, so suggest any link to sites is 'reviewed'.

.......or am I just being too cautious?[/QUOTE]

I think that the idea of this great forum is also to share views on estate agents/solicitors/notaries in general. As in every service, there are good providers and bad ones.

I still believe that £2000 for a €55K purchase is a bit too high, but maybe the client should have shopped around before agreeing to engage Max Gold. Have you asked them for a reduction of the price? It may have been a mistake when the invoice was printed! :D

We originally contacted Giambbrone Law in London Max Gold in Hull and John Howell, and we eventually decided to engage Dr. Giambrone because he was highly recommended on this forum as well as their legal fees were more competitive than the other two firms.

However, no two purchases are the same and it may be worth checking the prices with the lawyers before agreeing to instruct them (and do no forget the small print! :) i.e. what services are included and what extras are to be paid for!)

[QUOTE=Italianlover]I think that the idea of this great forum is also to share views on estate agents/solicitors/notaries in general. As in every service, there are good providers and bad ones.

I still believe that £2000 for a €55K purchase is a bit too high, but maybe the client should have shopped around before agreeing to engage Max Gold. Have you asked them for a reduction of the price? It may have been a mistake when the invoice was printed! :D

We originally contacted Giambbrone Law in London Max Gold in Hull and John Howell, and we eventually decided to engage Dr. Giambrone because he was highly recommended on this forum as well as their legal fees were more competitive than the other two firms.

However, no two purchases are the same and it may be worth checking the prices with the lawyers before agreeing to instruct them (and do no forget the small print! :) i.e. what services are included and what extras are to be paid for!)[/QUOTE]

Before engaging Dr Giambrone he provides a contract listing all the work/services that are included in his fixed price of £1,500 + VAT and further lists what are considered extras. So no surprises :)

Much as people might like to pay lower legal costs for transactions involving a cheaper houses, I think that the solicitors would say that the fees they charge are based on the amount of work they are required to do. This has very little correlation with the value of the house being sold. A 'clean' house selling for a million Euros may involve a lot less work than a house for, say, €100,000 which has issues with land ownership, illegal extensions, unpaid taxes etc.

[QUOTE=Marc]Much as people might like to pay lower legal costs for transactions involving a cheaper houses, I think that the solicitors would say that the fees they charge are based on the amount of work they are required to do. This has very little correlation with the value of the house being sold. A 'clean' house selling for a million Euros may involve a lot less work than a house for, say, €100,000 which has issues with land ownership, illegal extensions, unpaid taxes etc.[/QUOTE]

We first contacted Max Gold but were not impressed by their Italian lawyer because his English was very poor and it was difficult to understand him over the phone. And he was based in Hull whilst we are based in the South East.

We then found this forum and were recommended Giambrone & Law, whom we find very professional and effective; I agree with the comments made by various members about Gabriel in particular, he is often in the office after 8pm as most of our email from him are received late in the evening! Anyone else noted this? :D

In relation to Mark's comments about legal fees, although I agree that usually legal costs are calculated on the basis of the time spent, most Italian firms nowadays are willing to provide you a fixed fee rather than an hourly rate (which would usually end up being more expensive for the buyer, as you can not `check' what the solicitor claims to be doing on your case). Besides, solicitors usually charge more for higher value purchases because the risk on their indemnity insurance (if they have one, in the UK this is compulsory) is mugh higher for a €1,000,000 purchase than for a €15,000 deal. :eek:

In my opinion, one of the best parts of buying in italy is the fact that you dont need a lawyer... you get a notaio, who checks everything a lawyer would, eg preemption rights, debts against the house right up to translating the final agreement etc. When i asked Giambrone (and other lawyers) what services they could provide, there was little, or nothing they could do (perhaps get the codice fiscale, which i obtained with very little hassle myself) which someone else who you HAVE to pay (agent/notaio) does for you anyway. To me, it seems like they are useful only if you want someone to hold your hand through the process, and 1500+ seems like alot to pay for moral support to me.