566 farmers leaving the land

hello,i am thinking of buying in the central area of puglia-well, around martina franca ,cisternino maybe ostuni. when i view properties the agents always say that tending the land is not a problem a local farmer will always do it for you.i understand that many young people,as elsewhere,do not want to be farmers and would prefer an office job.so my question is:how easy is it to get your land looked after if you have a holiday home.has anyone had to do this recently and if so how did it work out,particularly if you cannot speak much italian.thankyou

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General chat about Italy

Be very, very careful about this.

In Italy if you permit someone to use your land for any purpose and he can show that he has had the beneficial use of your land for a period exceeding a year, it can create the right for him to do so in perpetuity. You really do not want to get into a situation where your land is yours in name only.

You *must* make a contract between yourself and whoever looks after the land which involves you renting the land to them, with clear limitations as to their usage and a defined contractual period, usually one year.

We have used a friend to farm our olives (we have "quite a few" olive trees) in the past and during that time the land was rented to him for a defined quantity of olive oil.

The land I own here, only 2,5Hectare is currently rented to a local guy, the contract is known as a "contratto di affitto di un fondo rustico", it is for a specified term (5 years) and brings in an income (small income) per year but, I think it would work well for you as a holidaying owner, BUT, you would have to specify picking of fruit etc., if you're interested I could send you a copy, or you could always contact your local Coldiretti office, normally land for rental is advertised in these offices anyway. You will always get someone to rent even if they're only farming for subsidies.