THE EXPERTS
To help Jeremy buy safely, here are some words of advice from Amanda Lamb and two other experts who know a thing or two about buying homes in Italy
Linda Travella runs property agency Casa Travella (
www.casatravella.co.uk)
THE BRIEF WHO
Jeremy Nye (48), lives in North London, close to Arsenal’s stadium. He has two children, Zebedee and Clement, and works in TV.
WHAT HE WANTS
Jeremy wants a holiday apartment where he can relax for long weekends or holidays, have friends along to visit and maybe rent out. It needs to be low-maintenance, spacious, with a minimum of two bedrooms and a living/dining area, possibly open-plan. Jeremy has two boys at primary school, so it needs to be reasonably childproof and not too high rise, with plenty of room to play, including a terrace, balcony or garden. He is interested to know what his legal responsibilities, tax and so on will be as a homeowner in Italy. Jeremy’s budget is £150,000.
WHERE
Jeremy loves Italy – the Renaissance art, food, shops and café culture, but isn’t a great fan of the beach. The property needs to be within a two-hour budget fl ight of London airports, so it will have to be northern or central Italy. He wants to be able to enjoy the apartment all year – not just in summer – so it cannot be a purely seasonal area. Being in a town with good airport links would avoid having to rent a car on every trip, but this isn’t a deal breaker. A city-centre apartment certainly has attractions, or perhaps a small house/apartment in an attractive Italian town. Out in the sticks would only appeal if the property is absolutely stunning, or at the heart of a lively hamlet. Jeremy has always loved Tuscany, but is open to suggestions and would like us to investigate properties in the Italian Lakes area.
REASON FOR BUYING Jeremy is a TV executive recently made redundant after a long career with the BBC. Fortunately, he walked straight into a job with a rival network, so he is able to use his redundancy money, plus some savings, for pure pleasure!
LINDA TRAVELLA PROPERTY AGENT
The two great advantages of northern Italy and Tuscany are accessibility and low risk. From London airports Jeremy will have a choice of dozens of low budget fl ights each week, and even if capital growth isn’t his fi rst concern, these areas are highly unlikely to see long-term price falls. Although still a buyers’ market, he should be able to get 10 per cent off asking prices, but not much more, and British buyers have been losing good property by trying to negotiate too hard and for too long. This is a global market place and we get people buying from Canada, Russia, the USA, as well as the usual European countries, so you can’t hang about. Property in beautiful towns like Siena, Como or Lucca is really outside Jeremy’s budget, certainly if he wants outside space, but you have a great transport infrastructure here and even small villages tend to have a shop and bar, maybe a restaurant. If Jeremy chooses the Lakes area then skiing becomes an option, with some great resorts just over the border in Switzerland.
Giandomenico de Tullio is an English-speaking Italian lawyer whoh runs De Tullion Law Firm in southern Italy (
www.detulliolawfi
rm.com)
GIANDOMENICO DE TULLIO
ITALIAN LAWYER
After purchasing an Italian property, as a new buyer Jeremy should, fi rstly, notify the purchase to the local authorities within 48 hours of signing the fi nal deed of sale. Secondly, he must subscribe the contracts for the utilities such as gas, water, electricity and telephone. New buyers become responsible for several taxes, specifi cally ICI which is the municipal tax affecting all property-owners in Italy, and TIA, a local tax for the management of rubbish collection. Plus personal income taxation if the Italian property is producing some income (e.g. rental income). It is strongly advisable to draw up an Italian will – with the support of an Italian solicitor – because Italian inheritance laws differ substantially from the British. Without a professionally drafted will your Italian assets will follow the Italian laws of succession, regulated from the Italian civil code, and assets may not be assigned to the intended heirs in accordance with your wishes.
Amanda is presenter of Channel 4’s hit TV series A Place in the Sun
AMANDA LAMB OVERSEAS
PROPERTY EXPERT
Italy has been so careful to avoid the kind of overdevelopment that you see in parts of Spain that these areas are truly beautiful and unspoilt. On the other hand, a Spanish resort apartment might be half the price. However, you don’t need to convince me of the attractions of an Italian bolt-hole – after fi lming in southern Italy I bought one! Northern Italy is a bit more expensive again, but has clear advantages in terms of rentability as well as travelling time. Either the Lakes or Tuscany are really sophisticated options – the former for the beauty of Lake Como, Lake Maggiore etc, and the designer shopping and opera in Milan, the latter for the Renaissance art and the lovely countryside. But Jeremy has two young children; so perhaps he could do with some child-friendly options such as Gardaland, one of Europe’s biggest theme parks, on the eastern side of Lake Garda. Another northern Italy option is Liguria, the stretch of north- western coast that runs into France. Maybe bypass Portofi no, where Wayne and Colleen got married (it’s a bit pricey!) and try Imperia.
FAST FACTS
NORTHERN ITALY THE PLACE
At its top end Italy spreads out to a plain that stretches some 250 miles from Turin in the west to Venice in the east, with Milan in the middle. Just north of Milan, at the foothills of the Alps, are Lake Como, Maggiore and Garda. To the south of the plain are the Appenine Mountains and over these are the valleys of Tuscany, home to Brits’ beloved “Chiantishire”.
WHERE TO GO
The mountains meet the Lakes in jaw-droppingly gorgeous villages, such as Bellagio or Cernobbio. They start quite Alpine in the north, getting less rugged further south. All have been well protected, and have good infrastructures and year-round communities. In Tuscany, famous cities like Florence, Siena, Lucca and Pisa are always wonderful to visit. For a holiday home,
a nearby village is often a better choice – maybe Vinci or Caprese Michelangelo, the birthplaces of Tuscany’s most famous sons.
CLIMATE Northern Italy gets intensely hot in summer, with average highs of 30ºC. The Lakes are slightly cooler, indeed somewhat chilly in winter compared to Tuscany which rarely gets frosts, but suffers heavy rain in late autumn. For both areas, spring and early autumn are the most user-friendly periods.
GETTING THERE For the Lakes, Milan has two main airports; Malpensa and Bergamo. The usual airport for Tuscany is Pisa, on the west coast, with the extra option of Florence, Forli and Perugia, most of which have regular budget fl ights from the UK all year.
JUNE 2011 A PLACE IN THE SUN 19
Turn over to see the four exciting properties we
found for Jeremy
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