In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
The same applies to building companies. Make sure they are resgitered and that you have a written contract in place. Don't enter into verbal agreements offering cash only payments and don't have any buiding work done by a contractor who employs illegal labour.
I would suggest this sort of name and shame might well be as much open to abuse as a dissatisfied client with a good agency could easily take a revenge attack.
What I would suggest and this is a very simple list of precautions which basically guarantees the legal operation of those that either will assist or not your house search or buy is that you after the initial contact by email and before viewing get these details.
1) the inscription number from the chamber of commerce which all businesses in Italy of virtually whatever type have to have and that it is for mediation
2) the I.V.A. (vat) registration number here of anyone again all businesses in Italy have to be registered as well as individual traders, there is no lower limit, it starts from zero earnings
3) that all services that are offered incur the charge for I.V.A. otherwise you are already on the path of getting yourself into trouble with the guardia finanzia, in England the customs, they take more than a dim view here of tax avoidance and it is not only the person charging that is in trouble the person not paying is as responsible ,not knowing does not form an excuse under law, this includes percentage charges by agents, services by people like the ones that get your code fiscale or bank accounts for you, all have to be registered to trade in what they do and to charge vat
4) be very sure if someone suggests that you pay in the U.K. for any service offered here that you are more than sure that they are competent and honest to carry out these services, you might think that you gain security over them being non Italian based but in essence this means any dispute virtually guarantees high expense of working out where any court case if it comes to that takes place and under which set of laws, remember if they could operate legally here they most probably would.
I think that the above if applied before you even make your first property viewing trip will not guarantee you an honest deal but will at least start you off on the right path. Will keep you on the secure rope that if anything is wrong you have invoices are not afraid to complain because you haven’t paid the proper taxes. At least you can complain because the chamber of commerce and the various professional trade bodies of these people are there to help, well at least a little.
It is also a fact that estate agents here that are registered carry and pay for insurance against court actions and penalties, in fact they have to have this in place before they can commence, they also have to register many of the papers that they use, e.g. the proposta. It should be filed as a legal document, and many now will only do the preliminary contract in front of a notary. Which protects them and you more in a legal sense if a professional competent and responsible draws up the contract under law.
Hopefully this might assist and am sure that there will be other points to make maybe more clearly but start well and things will generally go well.