Estate Agent info

Hi - a general rule of thumb to follow:  To sell property in Italy you must be a licenced estate agent - this means passing exams and having insurance and all that.  You must be registered at the Chamber of Commerce and the REA, and you must be registered for IVA (VAT) SO - a Brit with a nice website is probably not an Italian estate agent.  The legal information must be on the front page of the website - including IVA number etc.  If your agent is a 'property finder' and is taking commission it is illegal.  The agent must be cited in the act of sale otherwise you will have a fine of up to 15000 euros for false declaration in a public act, and you can also lose your new property and go to jail under the new laws.  

I found our property through an English website. The information was easy to access, easy to search and it was easy to register my interest and move things on. The moving on bit was an introduction to our official Italian estate agent, who took over the whole operation from then on. They were excellent in all - well, nearly all - respects. We paid commission only to the estate agent, who no doubt sorted out the English website guy. That was in 2005/6 and I know I would never have found my property without the English website, as the Italian agent's websites covering my area are abysmal. When I visited, the Italian agent showed me maybe 6 properties - the one I really wanted plus 5 others which were totally unsuitable in nearly all respects. If I had relied on the visit-and-view method alone, I would still be looking. So if I were you, I would first ask them how their Italian operation works - are they legal, as Ram has pointed out, and to whom do you pay the official agent's commission. If it's not them, then you need to know if they are trying to impose a charge over and above the official commission. I'm guessing that their website doesn't contain the information Ram says is necessary because their main business is registered in England.

Hi Numerouno. Long time no see. Hope all okay. Pilch

  Thank you all and to a few others who've sent me PMs.   And to Pilch, yes all fine and how's La Torre?    Regards.   #1

Hi Numero, Not in Italy anymore. P.M. us Pilch

SUNDAY Edit; Pilch removed the libelous content of his post - what a surprise!  I wonder what the next move will be?  Perhaps not so keen to accuse others of living by such low standards as himself is the way forward - especially as Pinky and Perky are obviously keeping him amused.  Be careful not to taint the tiddlers with too much bile is my advice. Here's what was removed from the above post. "Haven't you heard, we were tarred and feathered and drummed out of town by Levissima! You mean you never heard about the "Great Abruzzo art theft"? No, seriously, although there was a lot of silliness around that time we realised we would never be anything other than culturally British, and as lovely as Italy and Italians could be, and my Italian was pretty functional, we felt like "fish out of water" So, we sold up and made a good profit. So many people expressed a view we were absolutely crazy buying the tower, but you know what they say location, location, location. We can't help but have a touch of schadenfreude over some of our worse detractors who are now also deciding to sell but are stuck with gilded palaces no one is interested in. Us very happy back in U.K. especially as we have 3 year old twin grand children to keep us amused." Credami, ci serve un altro carico di catrame per finire te da qui all'eternita!

Thrown my tupenny worth in for what its worth.Contact the agent direct in Italy,if you like what you see on this site.Contact www.betterpropertyitaly.com We used them and found them very helpful. Antonio the owner is a qualified geometra,his knowledge is most useful when visiting properties.We completed our purchase in Abruzzo with them and they have helped ever since.PM me if you need more info.All the very best.                                                   c