Ram's activity

To say that you cant run a modern hosue without mains water is rubbish.  There are millions of people in ITaly who do not have mains water, the important thing to remember that water is a resource and not some freeby that arrives down a tube for your swimming pool.  It is however, not cheap - if you ar starting from scratch the best thing is to install a cisterna when you do the bubild or restoration - these can be up to 50mc and will store rainwater and/or delivered water.  If that isnt possible, then large serbatoi can do the job - dig a hole and bung them in - at least 10.000 litres.    If you hvae no water then the comune has bowser supplies - obvioulsy you pay but it isnt that much more than metered water, and they deliver 10.000 litres a time into your underground tank.    You say your well is dry - I assume you mean its an old hand dug well - yes you would need a steel lining - depending where you are - you can also use pvc in alot of areas which costs alot less - that would allow you to deepen the well and go down as much as you need, assuming that the fallia still exists - 'Ripristinazione' of old wells doesnt need a difficult permission - and alot of people use this as a guise to dig down a bit further, but if you are going to sink a trivella (a drilled well) you will need a permission.   AS you pay per linear metre its difficult to work out how much it will cost you - for the drilling, the sleeve and then for the pump.   In your position I would sink a couple of big tanks  and see what happens with the well water - it may well be that you end up with water int he winter and spring and nothing in the summer - if so you'll just have to learn to get by, but loads of Italians do just that

I didnt mean that you were disorganised Rachel, just that it could be hypothetically the most serious charge the Agenzia could lay at your door! 

It would be mendacious if you bought as prima casa without having any intention of taking prima casa, but if you did take residency within the 18 months,  only to move again because of a change of circumstances,  as in Rachel's case - it would hardly count as being mendacious.  At the worst - disorganised! 

Esme, spag bol at Locatelli's?  I think you were in the Stock Pot by mistake.   Obviously when he sees you coming he makes a run for it! 

Yeah, but even Locatelli aint gonna personally cook your pasta... he does! 

OK Ive just been to the notaio and presented him with this conundrum.... there are two factors at play, one is plusvalenza (capital gain) and one is prima casa agevolazione. 1. You buy a prima casa, and take residence but sell it before 5 years:   If you have had residence for more than half the time you have owned the house, there is no plusvalenza.  If you dont buy another prima casa within a year, then technically the Agenzia dell'entrate can come after you to replay the difference in the prima casa ageovolazione you took when you bought.  The AdE has 5 years to do 'accertamenti' on these things.  So, the gamble is 1) that they find you if you've gone back to Blighty and 2) they'll get round to you before the 5 years is up. 2, You buy a prima casa, have residence, change residence before 5 years, but dont sell. - Much more complicated - here it is the definition of prima casa that is at stake.  You have a house, it is still your only house in ITaly so it remains prima casa as far as agevolazione goes, but it is not your prima casa as far as residence goes.  The notaio is going to check with teh AdE but he thinks it actually makes no difference if you dont sell.  Certainly if you just change your residence within Italy.  However, if you then go back to the UK forever, and ditch your Italian residence, it becomes a moot point and you will have to bear with me until the AdE comes back with an answer, but the default - see above - is that nothing changes. 

Renzi got the votes of the young and the north, Bersani the south and the old - so its the usual split.  The question for me, at the risk of sounding new labour in the early 90's, is that Renzi is the only candidate who is 'modern' enough to drag the party out of its 1960's mindset.  We live in an Italy where work contracts and labour relations are stuck in about 1965 - with the right to work, right to a house and all the other guff that other centre left parties have quietly dropped over the last 20 years.  Renzi represents the possibility of a centre left/centre party that a) could have a decent majority and b) shed the ex hard left, WRP types and actually modernise the country.  Unfortunately BErsani will win, cos he's a 'safe pair of hands'.  The left will fracture, Berlusonci will jump  back into the ring and nothing will change. 

No its not a problem, you go down to the anagrafe and tell them you're emigrating again.  Your house becomes a second home and everything as before you arrived.    If you dont sell, nothing changes.  

5 years is the limit anyway for first or second home, as Gaia says - at the moment..... 

If you put in folding glass doors - ie something permanent yes you will need permission.  If they are plexiglass panels which clip in, then they are temporary and you dont (theoretically) need permission.  It all depends on how permanent your solution will be. It may be that your comune has a bylaw which allows you to close verandah's /patios - by paying a tot per square metre.  Round here its 57 euros psm at the moment, and then you can put in a permanent thing.