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the Purchase. If you have bought a property for
reconstruction or renovation you may be flying
home after the completion, but if the property is
habitable and you are moving in you will need to
organise as soon as possible connection of
necessary utilities.
In rural Puglia
this may consist solely of electricity - a
contract can be organised quickly in person at an
ENEL office, and it may help if you have the
vendor with you or his last bill. You will as
always now require your codice fiscale. If the
electricity is disconnected and the property has
a modern meter you may be able to reconnect the
electricity immediately yourself by cutting a
tie,with the newest electronic meters even that
won't be necessary, otherwise it may take a
couple of days for an engineer to reconnect you.
Electricity bills subsequently arrive every two
months, you can pay at the post office, arrange
by direct debit from your bank, or if you are
absent in the UK you can pay these by credit card
through ENEL's web site.
Piped gas is
generally available only in towns. In rural areas
you will be looking at bottled gas, either
delivered to large external storage tanks, or
using small bombolas or gas cylinders, which are
widely available in town shops.
Many rural
properties are served by water tanker delivery to
underground tanks, and before completion you
should determine the water status. In any event
make sure you have a contact for the local water
company.
Property insurance
is not as common in Italy as in the UK, and you
may find you can get fuller cover and attractive
rates from a British company.
You will have to
register for local property tax (ICI) and refuse
tax. Your agent should help with this. Or this
can be done by a geometra, who can calculate the
amount due at the next payment date and give you
a bill to pay at the post office. The amount is
not large by UK local tax standards.
The notaio will
look after the registering of your purchase in
the appropriate land registers, and you can
expect return of all the appropriate
documentation within two months. Ask your agent
to collect this or chase this up for you. You
should have a copy of the deed of sale, this will
be helpful if you want to register for permission
to stay in Italy.
In theory as an EC
citizen you have right of entry to Italy for
three months. Beyond that you need a permission
to stay. This used to be applied for in the form
of a "carta di soggiorno" at a main
police station (questura) in the capital city of
the state you will reside in, eg Bari or Taranto,
followed by application for residence at your
local Comune.
However the rules
have changed as of April 2007, and obtaining
permission to stay in Italy may be done by a
visit to your comune (or via a post office, but
you will still have to visit the comune to obtain
residence tax benefits etc). The new rules do
require you to demonstrate sufficient means,
including health insurance if you do not have a
job, to show you will not be a burden on the
Italian state. As with other aspects of living in
Italy, this is too complicated to be dealt with
in detail here.
The above
summarises the essentials of moving in to your
new home in Puglia. There are a number of books
on living in Italy, all with their slightly
different information and slant, so it's worth
browsing at least two to get a round view of the
subject.
Back to
Properties for Sale
For any enquiry on
buying property in Puglia, please contact us.
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