I can't comment on Lazio as I don't live there In his experience working for his father's building firm in North Yorkshire for many years, yes the way rural buildings are constructed here in Marche are very similar to those on the Moors. Patrick, I think you'd be very lucky to find a builder to sign off your work as if they are on the building permit, they have legal responsibilities over the site. There are also insurance issues. If you had an accident on the building site, they could be liable so you can see why they would be reluctant.
We buy all our cars in the UK and drive RHD here. Second hand cars are extortionately expensive here. Generally, you can get the same car in the UK for nearly half the price. It's not a problem registering and insuring a RHD car in Italy but obviously you wouldn't have many buyers if you wanted to sell it on. I have registered 3 cars here and it's not a problem. It costs about 500-600 euro. The insurance is more expensive here because the car is insured and not the driver. I have found Direct Line the cheapest. Things to watch out for are that if the car has a tow bar it must be a manufacturers fitted one or be on the Italian list of "approved" tow bars. That is not the same as the manufacturers list of approved towbars as we found out to our cost! I pay €650 a year to insure a 2005 Mercedes Vaneo which is third party fire & theft plus breakdown, windscreen and legal cover. It also covers me for natural incidents (e.g. a tree falling on it). Dearer than the UK but still cheaper than some of the horror stories you hear. Remember to get your no claims bonus certified from your current insurer and it needs to be expressed in years and not %age. Italian Direct Line will honour this unlike a lot of other Italian insurers. If you're not going to be permanently based in Italy, I would stick to buying and insuring it in the UK - cheaper!
Sorry - I wasn't clear. You still need a geometra and a registered plumber & electrician even if you register as the builder. The idea is to avoid having to have a registered builder on a full renovation project if you are able to do the work yourself which will obviously save money. There is nothing particularly strange about the way buildings are constructed here. My husband has renovated many stone barns in the UK and says the construction is very similar in fact. A good geometra should deal with all the building regs and permissions and be available to give advice. The main difference in construction here in Marche is to do with earthquake regulations and seems to affect the roof and openings more than anything else. With our renovation, very detailed roof construction drawings were provided by the geometra to meet these regulations. In an ideal world with unlimited funds we would all use local muratore who do a very good job but are vey expensive and just too expensive for some of us unfortunately.
You will need any electrical work and plumbing work signed off by a registered electrician and plumber and what you can do will depend on what permission you have. If it is a full renovation then a registered builder will also be required on the building permit. There is, however, nothing to stop you setting yourself up as a builder to fulfil this requirement. You will have to pay Italian INPS which is currently approx €2900 a year but I know several people who have done this.
If you paid your NI in the UK for the last 2 years before leaving the UK, you can request an E106 (only for working people under retirement age) which will entitile you to 2 1/2 years cover by the Italian Health Service (SSN). After that you will need to either pay voluntary contributions, present your Italian tax return showing contributions or have private health cover until you reach 5 years of residence in which case you are entitled to a permanent inscription in the SSN.
There are some good suggestions above and I think it would be very wise to actually live in a bigger town with more amenities. I have seen many families return to the UK after having chosen to live in remote farmhouses and then either them or the kids feeling isolated. I would say why not consider having a couple of holiday properties and have some other properties to rent to the domestic market. That way you are not wholly reliant on the foreign (possbly fickle) holiday market. The actual rental per month will be lower but then Italians round our way (Marche) prefer to rent small, new apartments and if you bought 2 or 3 you should be able to strike a good deal with the developer plus you will have more secure income as locals will be signed up to a fixed, long-term rental period. Also there'd be less maintenance with new properties. As far as the health cover goes, if you are under retirement age and an UK citizen you will need to request an E106 from the DWP in the UK and will be entitled to cover for 2 1/2 years. After that you must either make contributions to the Italian health system or pay for private health cover for the next 2 1/2 years. After 5 years you are entitled to be treated like an Italian and will be covered regardless of contributions (unless you live in Ascoli Piceno - but that's anther story!). I would also suggest getting good tax advice as tax mistakes here can be very costly. Rental contracts are usually registered and so would be difficult to keep "under the radar". Italian tax men have also been known to search the internet for properties that have been rented out to see if tax is due, so it would be unwise to base your calculations on doing everything in the black. Good luck with whatever you decide and I wish your wife good health.
Hi, there is a large nursery near a restaurant on the road to Marina di Altidona (the left-hand part of the road to Pedaso from Comunanza). I think it falls under Lapedona. I can't remember it's name but it is after a very large restaurant called I Cedri which is on the right hand side of the road. Very difficult to miss. The nursery is on the left hand side of the road no more than 2k m after the restaurant. It has lots of large greenhouses that you can wander round and plenty of shrubs. They tend to specialise in whatever is seasonal so when it's time to plant veggies, that's what they'll have a lot of and when it's geranium time, then it's full of geraniums. Alternatively there are strings of nurseries on the road to Pedaso from Comunanza (all at the Pedaso end). Some have better selections than others but you can have fun looking! Garden78 is very expensive. The next garden centre along (if you continue along that road) for about 15 minutes is good too and cheaper than Garden 78. Happy shopping.
I have registered several cars here but never swapped one from commercial to private. The insurance agent is quite correct that you cannot put it in your private name and would need a partita d'IVA to "own" a commercial vehicle. Can't the dealer help? He wants to sell it presumably. The local driving school would be the people to answer that for you. I wouldn't bother with anyone else - they won't know. If you have the patience and the Italian you could go to the office of Motorizzazione to get a definitive answer, otherwise you'll need to take what the autoscuole tell you (assuming they all tell you the same thing!). In my experience registering cars, getting the driving licence recognised etc is expensive. Just to register a car costs approx 500-600 euro and I don't honestly expect it to cost less to do what you are suggesting. That might make it uneconomic to buy. I know an American couple who had a slightly different problem here. He was pulled over by the Carabinieri and had his driving licence confiscated. It hadn't occured to him that his licence wasn't valid in Italy (he'd een here several years by this stage). He had to take an Italian driving test. Happily, he passed!
Comments posted
Or try Michael J Murphy.
I can't comment on Lazio as I don't live there
In his experience working for his father's building firm in North Yorkshire for many years, yes the way rural buildings are constructed here in Marche are very similar to those on the Moors. Patrick, I think you'd be very lucky to find a builder to sign off your work as if they are on the building permit, they have legal responsibilities over the site. There are also insurance issues. If you had an accident on the building site, they could be liable so you can see why they would be reluctant.
Is it going to be shown only in Italy? Seems a waste if so.
We buy all our cars in the UK and drive RHD here. Second hand cars are extortionately expensive here. Generally, you can get the same car in the UK for nearly half the price. It's not a problem registering and insuring a RHD car in Italy but obviously you wouldn't have many buyers if you wanted to sell it on. I have registered 3 cars here and it's not a problem. It costs about 500-600 euro. The insurance is more expensive here because the car is insured and not the driver. I have found Direct Line the cheapest. Things to watch out for are that if the car has a tow bar it must be a manufacturers fitted one or be on the Italian list of "approved" tow bars. That is not the same as the manufacturers list of approved towbars as we found out to our cost! I pay €650 a year to insure a 2005 Mercedes Vaneo which is third party fire & theft plus breakdown, windscreen and legal cover. It also covers me for natural incidents (e.g. a tree falling on it). Dearer than the UK but still cheaper than some of the horror stories you hear. Remember to get your no claims bonus certified from your current insurer and it needs to be expressed in years and not %age. Italian Direct Line will honour this unlike a lot of other Italian insurers. If you're not going to be permanently based in Italy, I would stick to buying and insuring it in the UK - cheaper!
Sorry - I wasn't clear. You still need a geometra and a registered plumber & electrician even if you register as the builder. The idea is to avoid having to have a registered builder on a full renovation project if you are able to do the work yourself which will obviously save money. There is nothing particularly strange about the way buildings are constructed here. My husband has renovated many stone barns in the UK and says the construction is very similar in fact. A good geometra should deal with all the building regs and permissions and be available to give advice. The main difference in construction here in Marche is to do with earthquake regulations and seems to affect the roof and openings more than anything else. With our renovation, very detailed roof construction drawings were provided by the geometra to meet these regulations. In an ideal world with unlimited funds we would all use local muratore who do a very good job but are vey expensive and just too expensive for some of us unfortunately.
You will need any electrical work and plumbing work signed off by a registered electrician and plumber and what you can do will depend on what permission you have. If it is a full renovation then a registered builder will also be required on the building permit. There is, however, nothing to stop you setting yourself up as a builder to fulfil this requirement. You will have to pay Italian INPS which is currently approx €2900 a year but I know several people who have done this.
If you paid your NI in the UK for the last 2 years before leaving the UK, you can request an E106 (only for working people under retirement age) which will entitile you to 2 1/2 years cover by the Italian Health Service (SSN). After that you will need to either pay voluntary contributions, present your Italian tax return showing contributions or have private health cover until you reach 5 years of residence in which case you are entitled to a permanent inscription in the SSN.
There are some good suggestions above and I think it would be very wise to actually live in a bigger town with more amenities. I have seen many families return to the UK after having chosen to live in remote farmhouses and then either them or the kids feeling isolated. I would say why not consider having a couple of holiday properties and have some other properties to rent to the domestic market. That way you are not wholly reliant on the foreign (possbly fickle) holiday market. The actual rental per month will be lower but then Italians round our way (Marche) prefer to rent small, new apartments and if you bought 2 or 3 you should be able to strike a good deal with the developer plus you will have more secure income as locals will be signed up to a fixed, long-term rental period. Also there'd be less maintenance with new properties. As far as the health cover goes, if you are under retirement age and an UK citizen you will need to request an E106 from the DWP in the UK and will be entitled to cover for 2 1/2 years. After that you must either make contributions to the Italian health system or pay for private health cover for the next 2 1/2 years. After 5 years you are entitled to be treated like an Italian and will be covered regardless of contributions (unless you live in Ascoli Piceno - but that's anther story!). I would also suggest getting good tax advice as tax mistakes here can be very costly. Rental contracts are usually registered and so would be difficult to keep "under the radar". Italian tax men have also been known to search the internet for properties that have been rented out to see if tax is due, so it would be unwise to base your calculations on doing everything in the black. Good luck with whatever you decide and I wish your wife good health.
Hi, there is a large nursery near a restaurant on the road to Marina di Altidona (the left-hand part of the road to Pedaso from Comunanza). I think it falls under Lapedona. I can't remember it's name but it is after a very large restaurant called I Cedri which is on the right hand side of the road. Very difficult to miss. The nursery is on the left hand side of the road no more than 2k m after the restaurant. It has lots of large greenhouses that you can wander round and plenty of shrubs. They tend to specialise in whatever is seasonal so when it's time to plant veggies, that's what they'll have a lot of and when it's geranium time, then it's full of geraniums. Alternatively there are strings of nurseries on the road to Pedaso from Comunanza (all at the Pedaso end). Some have better selections than others but you can have fun looking! Garden78 is very expensive. The next garden centre along (if you continue along that road) for about 15 minutes is good too and cheaper than Garden 78. Happy shopping.
I have registered several cars here but never swapped one from commercial to private. The insurance agent is quite correct that you cannot put it in your private name and would need a partita d'IVA to "own" a commercial vehicle. Can't the dealer help? He wants to sell it presumably. The local driving school would be the people to answer that for you. I wouldn't bother with anyone else - they won't know. If you have the patience and the Italian you could go to the office of Motorizzazione to get a definitive answer, otherwise you'll need to take what the autoscuole tell you (assuming they all tell you the same thing!). In my experience registering cars, getting the driving licence recognised etc is expensive. Just to register a car costs approx 500-600 euro and I don't honestly expect it to cost less to do what you are suggesting. That might make it uneconomic to buy. I know an American couple who had a slightly different problem here. He was pulled over by the Carabinieri and had his driving licence confiscated. It hadn't occured to him that his licence wasn't valid in Italy (he'd een here several years by this stage). He had to take an Italian driving test. Happily, he passed!