Hi there my fiance and I decided against a reception in a hotel, for our wedding in Sicly, for various reasons one of which was cost but another was a healthy suspicion that such an arrangement in a bog standard European hotel might leave our gues
Hi there, I'm back on this afternoon (grateful to for the wisdom of two people for their insights already) as my fiance and I now have a question relating to the contract our engineer wants us to sign. (We intend self building in the Province of
Hi there, myself and my fiance are looking to build on our land in South Eastern Sicily which has the relevant permissions. We have found through experience that engineers in Sicily will sometimes add plenty of 'cream' onto jobs if you instruct t
Hello everyone - you may well be sick of the sight of this thread so apologies in advance. I have purchased a UK registered car in advance of my road trip from Ireland to Sicily in the next few weeks and I just want to get my head around the legalities. The UK car is insured, MOT'd - however, I purchased it un-taxed and its difficult for me to tax this car from Ireland. As I intend to re-register the car and pay tax in Sicily (as a civic minded new resident) - should I expect problems driving an untaxed UK vehicle through France and Italy? In the arguably slightly unlikely chance the ''blue lights'' of gendarmes/carabinieri come on in the rear vision mirror to pull over - will they be distressed by my lack of care and attention to pay my UK road tax? Or will they be happy enough to see EU license/fully insured/verifiably road worthy? Any informed commentary would be greatly valued. Regards Liamo
Hi Carl I read with interest your comments above. My wife and I are selling our 2 bedroom viletta o/s near the beach Siracusa, Sicily. We'd both agree that Russian is to be heard across the Med and now more and more in Sicily now there are direct flights with windjet from Moscow/St Petersburg to Catania, Sicily. We're currently marketing the property through one local agent but also ourselves with free websites like Gumtree in UK and others in Belgium, NL, Germany. I'd be interested in your thoughts for showing the property to potential Russian buyers. Regards Liam
Ron you're a gentleman thanks for the reply - nows not the time to be holding the breath I think. I travelled on that motorway last mth and it was indeed a great improvement. The Tomtom told me I was merrily ploughing through a field so I may have to part with some shekels to have that updated... As a foreigner I'm reluctant to complain about the unique way of doing things that occur in Sicily - grateful instead for the day God introduced me to the place. Regards Liam
Hi Ram We're in the hills about 20 mins drive south from Siracusa - we actually got onto a pasticceria with a good reputation, a bunch of enthusiastic guys and we're waiting on pricing. They reckon that they can sort the girrarosto, no problem so happy days this was beginning to up the stress levels. Thanks for all the help Regards Liam
Many thanks Maurice we had figured that 1000per sqm was optimistic - and fair point about the seismic angle, which is something we have to explore further with the engineer as the house will be on a cliff. Regards, Liam
LizYou're very generous with your time and energy - thank you.The engineer could have saved the confusion you allude to by making it plain that the charge is only 2% - as you say is it worth arguing over that much? - you could lose more running after a bus, as they say! I'll address this with him Monday.As a more general comment not strictly related to this issue - I'm learning more and more about Sicily and its people - and I'm reluctant to be hyper critical of things that are foreign to me. Particularly when many of the Sicilians I've met have been super cool and open to me as many seem to be to others new to the place.RegardsLiam
AdriaticaInteresting stuff - it certainly makes the bitter pill easier to swallow if the percentage charged contains insurance etc. The contract we've sent back to him has so much red pen through it, that it looks like a sunset, however I'm more prepared to pay this as is required now I have a clearer view of things.Thanks for the thoughtsBest regardsLiam
Hi Alan - tax avoidance, as opposed to evasion, is fine by me - to be encouraged by all right thinking people. Whether thats his intention I'm unsure. I'll flush out a professional on Monday I think... Thanks again, Liam
Hi PennyMany thanks for the reply you're very kind. You say its normal - is that because its widely done and accepted by convention - or is it a legislative requirement? If so, I'd be interested to see the law.Enjoy your eveningLiam
Comments posted
Hello everyone - you may well be sick of the sight of this thread so apologies in advance. I have purchased a UK registered car in advance of my road trip from Ireland to Sicily in the next few weeks and I just want to get my head around the legalities. The UK car is insured, MOT'd - however, I purchased it un-taxed and its difficult for me to tax this car from Ireland. As I intend to re-register the car and pay tax in Sicily (as a civic minded new resident) - should I expect problems driving an untaxed UK vehicle through France and Italy? In the arguably slightly unlikely chance the ''blue lights'' of gendarmes/carabinieri come on in the rear vision mirror to pull over - will they be distressed by my lack of care and attention to pay my UK road tax? Or will they be happy enough to see EU license/fully insured/verifiably road worthy? Any informed commentary would be greatly valued. Regards Liamo
Hi Carl I read with interest your comments above. My wife and I are selling our 2 bedroom viletta o/s near the beach Siracusa, Sicily. We'd both agree that Russian is to be heard across the Med and now more and more in Sicily now there are direct flights with windjet from Moscow/St Petersburg to Catania, Sicily. We're currently marketing the property through one local agent but also ourselves with free websites like Gumtree in UK and others in Belgium, NL, Germany. I'd be interested in your thoughts for showing the property to potential Russian buyers. Regards Liam
Ron you're a gentleman thanks for the reply - nows not the time to be holding the breath I think. I travelled on that motorway last mth and it was indeed a great improvement. The Tomtom told me I was merrily ploughing through a field so I may have to part with some shekels to have that updated... As a foreigner I'm reluctant to complain about the unique way of doing things that occur in Sicily - grateful instead for the day God introduced me to the place. Regards Liam
Hi Ram We're in the hills about 20 mins drive south from Siracusa - we actually got onto a pasticceria with a good reputation, a bunch of enthusiastic guys and we're waiting on pricing. They reckon that they can sort the girrarosto, no problem so happy days this was beginning to up the stress levels. Thanks for all the help Regards Liam
Many thanks Maurice we had figured that 1000per sqm was optimistic - and fair point about the seismic angle, which is something we have to explore further with the engineer as the house will be on a cliff. Regards, Liam
LizYou're very generous with your time and energy - thank you.The engineer could have saved the confusion you allude to by making it plain that the charge is only 2% - as you say is it worth arguing over that much? - you could lose more running after a bus, as they say! I'll address this with him Monday.As a more general comment not strictly related to this issue - I'm learning more and more about Sicily and its people - and I'm reluctant to be hyper critical of things that are foreign to me. Particularly when many of the Sicilians I've met have been super cool and open to me as many seem to be to others new to the place.RegardsLiam
AdriaticaInteresting stuff - it certainly makes the bitter pill easier to swallow if the percentage charged contains insurance etc. The contract we've sent back to him has so much red pen through it, that it looks like a sunset, however I'm more prepared to pay this as is required now I have a clearer view of things.Thanks for the thoughtsBest regardsLiam
Many thanks alan that looks like what we're talking about! Awesome...
Hi Alan - tax avoidance, as opposed to evasion, is fine by me - to be encouraged by all right thinking people. Whether thats his intention I'm unsure. I'll flush out a professional on Monday I think... Thanks again, Liam
Hi PennyMany thanks for the reply you're very kind. You say its normal - is that because its widely done and accepted by convention - or is it a legislative requirement? If so, I'd be interested to see the law.Enjoy your eveningLiam