I was expecting, at this point, to be busily at work restoring Palazzo Lillo, but was unable to complete on the property because there was a problem with the paperwork, something which only became apparent at the nth hour. It is maybe amusing, albeit it in a dark way, that this happened to me, after spending years helping people avoid pitfalls when buying property in Puglia but, if I hadn’t had 15 years’ experience, and known what to look for, I would have gone ahead with the purchase and possibly come horribly unstuck later down the line.

I am retelling the story in the hopes that it helps other people and will end with a summary of things to watch out for. I’m fine, have got my deposit back, and am moving onto bigger and better things. !

Essentially what happened was this:

When we first looked round the Palazzo we were told that one of the bathrooms was ‘abusivo’ – erected without planning permission. Since it was occupying terrace space, and making easy access to all the rooms difficult, this didn’t worry me as I planned to demolish it in any case. The next step was to compare what else was there with the floor plans on the land registry. This was made more challenging by the fact that the old records for part of the palazzo were registered in 1939, a room at a time. In addition to this we couldn’t access two rooms at all as they were currently tenanted. To make life easier (and I needed it anyway to do a quantity survey and work out costs before I made an offer) I got a geometra to do a to scale survey and plans of everything we could access.

Another ‘abusivo’ bathroom came to light – again on a terrace, again surplus to requirements and, apart from anything else, falling down. I see this all the time – original building pre 1960s in perfect condition and crumbling newer additions. Although this wasn’t a problem per se, it was definitely a red flag, in that I hadn’t been told about it.

By now I had got excited about what could be done with the building – closing my eyes I could visualise exactly what it would look like when finished. I had already had significant interest from investors and was raring to go. I made a low-ball offer in January, conditional on the tenant being out by April and paying only a very small deposit till then. The owner, in writing, testified that the rest of the building was all pre 1942 so no more nasty surprises. We agreed to complete end of July and in the meantime, I got quotes for the restoration and continued chats with investors, as time was limited.

April came, the tenant moved out and we paid the rest of the deposit. The geometra was on holiday but, as soon as he came back, he added the missing rooms to the survey. Lo and behold another ‘abusivo’ tacked on bathroom – worrying, in the light of the owner’s written statement.

The Palazzo was in two parts – the older part and a newer part of around 100 square metres. Unlike the older part this had flat ceilings rather than vaults. There were, however, cementine on the floor (encaustic tiles) identical to the ones in the older part and it could have been built in the right time period. It perfectly matched the land registry plan. The owner claimed it was built before 1942 but, particularly because this was an investment project, I wasn’t taking any chances. The land registry plan dated from the 70s.

The significance of the date is that, in historic centres, any work carried out post 1942 required planning permission (in the countryside it is 1967). Between 1942 and 1967 you may be able to get retrospective planning permission, but this is by no means a given. We are largely talking about any structural changes here, or new building.

The estate agent was pushing me to complete, on the basis that the notary would just ask both parties to sign to say the land registry plans matched the existing building, apart from the bathrooms which would be demolished. With the owner’s assertion that everything was before 1942 it would all be fine, and he could suggest an obliging notary.

Were I buying a small house for myself, not needing any planning permission or wanting to rent it out, then maybe I would have gone ahead. This, however, was an investment project, and I certainly wasn’t going to take anyone else’s money on the basis of everyone closing their eyes and hoping for the best.

If I didn’t complete by the agreed date, I risked losing my deposit of 30,000 euros. In the end I got a lawyer to write an official letter, postponing completion and giving the owner 3 weeks to provide the requested documentation. We backed this up with a letter from a reputable notary saying he wasn’t happy for the sale to go through without the extra documentation. It is worth noting that had we not drawn his attention to it he almost certainly would have gone ahead.

To cut a long story short it took a further two months, with much stalling and prevaricating by both the owner and the estate agent, and with the council offices on a go slow over August, to get access to the ‘buste chiuse’ – archived land registry records. There was no earlier floor plan for the newer block and no planning permission. I was actually surprised by this, but very glad I had waited for confirmation either way.

I therefore pulled out of the sale and asked for my deposit back. Under the terms of the preliminary contract (offer document) the owner had to comply . It has taken two months and I needed a lawyer, with attendant costs, and a threat of taking the seller to court to get my money back. I was only able to achieve this because I am established here, am bilingual, and had good contacts.

So, what should you do if you are buying a property?

You can’t rely on legal advice – a lawyer would not have picked this up as there is not conveyancing as such here and most lawyers know nothing about property or building regs. A geometra might have.

If there isn’t the paperwork, or the paperwork isn’t in order you could make an offer conditional on this being provided or resolved and only pay a token deposit until this happens.

In essence though, you should aways check the following

• That what you see matches the land registry floor plans
• That if these are not dated pre 1942 or 1967 (historic centre or countryside) you ask to see planning permission or earlier floorplans. An owner’s written statement that the property has not been altered since these dates could be enough if you have no reason to think the property is more recent (I would get a geometra or engineer’s opinion on that). In this case I would have been happy with this had the owner not already perjured himself. This is unusual, most owners wouldn’t as there are legal consequences including the sale becoming null and void after the event.

Over the last 10 years I have found myself doing the due diligence for anyone I have helped buy property (with no real, unfixable  problems it has to be said). Although I am no longer project managing for other people, I am still happy to offer a due diligence service for anyone who needs it, as well as a property search service for anyone who hasn’t found a property yet.

P.S  since this article was written many councils have toughened up and an owners declaration may not be enough in historic centres (if there are bits which look more recent than the rest). See here

See also a previous post – D0n’t buy property in Puglia without reading this