Every so often I come across a property which really excites me and this is one of them : an enchanting 17th century property in the historic centre of Nardò which, restored, will provide three bedrooms and bathrooms, two terraces … Continue reading
Prices in Puglia continue to rise and, in some areas, like Nardò where I live, there is now significantly less for sale, and a lot of what is left either has planning issues or is huge. Nardò is in huge … Continue reading
Palazzetto Toma is part of a palazzo dating back to the 1890s, with beautiful cementine floors, star or pavilion vaulted ceilings, a small garden and balconies and terraces covering 250m2, excluding outdoor spaces. It is in remarkably good condition, but … Continue reading
The week started (as does every day) with sifting through all the properties for sale which have been sent to me, sometimes up to 100, saving any that may be of interest to my clients. I used to save good … Continue reading
I was excited to restore this property, consisting of 4/5 rooms on the ground floor and a room on the roof terrace. Included in the sale was what was once a stable, which will be restored to form a stand … Continue reading
Other than free content on this blog, we also offer free webinars on buying and restoring property in Puglia. see here.
If you think we can help in any way we are always happy to have a free, no obligation whatsapp call to give initial guidance and see how we can help you.
Property finding service
Includes:
Time spent before arrival understanding your needs and tastes, suggesting properties and areas and commenting on any properties you may find, aiming.
Liasing with estate agents, drawing up a shortlist of pre-vetted properties to view
Accompanying you to visit properties (see property visits, below). Giving an estimate of restoration costs, taking a builder or engineer to view the property if necessary.
Fee: 3 % of purchase price (you will not have to pay the 3% plus IVA (22%) normally charged by Italian agencies to the buyer, assuming you buy a property from an agent with whom I have this agreement). Minimum payment of €3500 (properties under 80,000 ) or 4500 above that (equivalent to 3% of 150,000)
Please note that if you contact any agencies directly they will not waive their commission fee in my favour
Payable immediately an offer has been made and accepted.
Property viewings
I will charge my time at €37.50 per hour, plus expenses (travel, accommodation if necessary) which is payable during your visit, but which will be deducted from the property finding fee, should you buy a property
Handholding service, due diligence, assistance with sale and anything following the sale
Visits to get tax code, opening bank account. Due diligence before you make an offer, help to make an offer, standing proxy at the sale if necessary, introduction to and liason with notaries, lawyers, rental agencies, Italian accountants and anything else you may need.
€37.50 an hour plus expenses (phone calls, travel, cost of land registry searches etc),
Project management and Consultancy
Obtaining quotes for necessary work, surveys etc.
Introduction to engineers, architects, builders etc
Advising on the work which needs doing, checking/commenting on any quotes you may obtain yourself
Checking out a property you have already found at any stage of the process
€37.50 an hour plus expenses (phone calls, travel, cost of land registry searches etc),
I am no longer doing much project management, in terms of supervising work – should I agree to do so I charge 15% of costs.
Terms and conditions
We will be running some free seminars – one on buying property in Puglia, one on restoring property and one on fractional ownership. Groups will be kept small so that everyone has a chance to ask questions, and you can … Continue reading
It has to be said that I am not a fan of August in Italy. The beaches are too crowded, well everything is too crowded really, and one eats worse, even at favorite restaurants because the staff are run off their feet and exhausted. The worst thing for me is that nobody does any work, and everything grinds to a halt – which I find frustrating.
We had made a lot of progress with our Palazzo Viva project and our grant application was almost ready to go in after lots of delays caused by applications opening some 6 months later than promised, and all the rules changing in the meantime. We were pushing to get all the loose ends tied up when our accountant’s wife was rushed into hospital in mid-July. As he needed to do the final stages of our application, and we didn’t want to put pressure on at a difficult time, we had to resign ourselves to waiting for autumn, as his office is closed in August in any case. Meanwhile, our option on the Palazzo needed to be extended and the owners started trying to renegotiate the deal. Oh Joy! Continue reading
Happy New Year from Nardò! I wrote a piece called more than 12 days of Christmas in Puglia some years ago, which came to mind last week as I went for a walk and a drink in the square. It … Continue reading
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
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