Alanino's activity

I used to get the commune to calculate, and as well as the ici I had to pay them for working it out, but apparently in the future I will wait for them to send me the calculation by post and then pay (therefore avoiding the extra, calculation, charge)I understand this is aall changing soon and will be based on square meterage of your property.

Thanks for that, I know that we currently pay this bollo, but I was under the impression that this was yet another charge/tax on top of this and potentially higherMaybe I just misunderstood things, boo

Dear Flip, Guess my point was that they shouldnt be able to stop you randomly just  'to see if you are carrying your ID'. If you had to show your ID clearly in the window of your car, and it was not there, then yes - but otherwise no.

thanks for the feedback - some good pointers to follow up on  

It is something that has puzzled me in recent visits to italy re stop and search powers of the police/carabineri. They seem to be able to ask you to pull over for no reason - ie at random. Our border police have been told by Brussels that stopping people 'at random' was against EU law - and that to stop someone they need 'probable cause' or 'some reason' to stop your vehicle. Does this not apply to the police in Italy - surely if your driving badly, things are falling off your car or theres something obviously wrong that the police can't just stop you? thanks  

We are in the process of buying an house in Le Marche and at first had problems trying to open an account with UniCredit - they didnt want to know. But had no problems with the Co-op bank n Fano - and successfully opened an "Estero" account, where we can access online and six-monthly statements are sent to our uk address, and also have a bancomat card. We have had the account for about two years now and the charges have been nowhere near E300 or E2 for every transaction. We have various transactions going thru and cheques etc but at the moment the pitiful amount of interest they give us (0.5%) covers any charges (And we've had on average circa E10,000) - so about E50 per year. Maybe look into BCC Banca di Credito Cooperativo in your area  

I'm in the process of buying a property - and I will have to hand over the full amount in the next few months. I have a bank account in Italy already set-up with the co-op group (which by the way was relatively easy to set-up considering i'm not a resident). Anyway thru a currency broker, i was offered 1.21 as the rate to transfer some cash - but i'm waiting. IMO - the euro will get weaker over the coming weeks and indeed months - and I think 1.25 - 1.30 is more like the position is shuld be. Where every cent movement making my house purchase about £1000 cheaper, I am constantly reading and studying this. And shoot me down for a long term forecast, but I think the euro willnot exist in 5 years time!

Yes, I think there will still be a charge (of course, this is Ryanair). Not sure on the size though - all it said was, "As long as you can get it to the check in, and pick it up on arrival"

1 of the appartments has been sold to a family - who have paid quite a substantial deposit. We have been in contact, yes, but she has her own lawyer who seems to be not doing very much either. 2 other appartments have been bought by the engineer/surveyor and labourer who actually worked on building the property. Now whether they have actually paid a deposit or was given the appartment in lieu of work done, I dont know. 1 appartment remains unsold. Last time I looked at some numbers, the cost of finishing the property is about 250k - and the amount still to collect from people was slightly more. And this would also leave one appartment to sell - bringing in an estimated further 160k.  When you look at these figures its a no-brainer - however the bank are owed about 300k as well. So doesnt look so attractive then. Otherwise I would have offered to finish it myself.