Thank you Badger and Amaretto. I think that holiday home insurance is loaded, although I do not let out my house. Intasure tell me that the big rise in the quoted premium was due to the cost of earthquake cover and removing this reduced the premium by more than £200-. This was still more than another internet quote that I had obtained and Intasure then reduced their premium by a further sum to make it competative. I decided, for better or worse, to dispense with earthquake cover, as I think that the only earthquake that may affect me is likely to take place in the Quirinale!
I am interested in the postings on insurance, as I have experienced a large increase in the cost of insuring my holiday home in Italy. I transferred to Intersure a few years ago, as they seemed to offer the best value and I have just had my renewal notice. The Premium required by Intasure to cover the building only, which is a detached stone built house, for their standard £1,000,000- is £410.47, plus taxes etc. I have never made a claim and I am amazed that Badger had a quote of £127.08 for the same cover and from the same insurer less than a year ago. My Premium in November 2010 was not much less than this year. I would be very interested to know what differentiates my property from Badger's. I have previously had quotes from Saga and Tower, both of whom were higher. I used to insure in Italy with Toro, who required me to enter into a ten year contract with them and could not say what would happen if I sold the property within ten years!
Brian, I would like to be in Lunigiana next week, but I won't be able to get out for at least a month and after that my house gets very cold, as it has no central heating. I would otherwise have been delighted to have the opportunity to meet you. Paolo
Brian, I would like to be in Lunigiana next week, but I won't be able to get out for at least a month and after that my house gets very cold, as it has no central heating. I would otherwise have been delighted to have the opportunity to meet you. Paolo
I will be interested to read your book `SAS in Tuscany`. I have a first edition of your father's book `Rossano`, published in 1955 and its' sub-title is `An Adventure of the Italian Resistance`. Is this the same book, which subsequently had a slight change of title or are there two books by your father? I have a holiday home that is not far from the Rossano Valley and I have seen the monument that your father had erected on a nearby hill. It is difficult today to recognise many of the features referred to in the book, which I found most informative.
Your executors will need to declare the value of your italian property to HMRC in the appropriate form before they can obtain probate in the UK, but the italian authorities are not interested in British Grants of Probate and only want to see your will that relates to your italian property. As you are British, you can only make an english (or scottish will if you live in Scotland) will, as has already been said, but I advise you to do a simple english will dealing solely with your italian property, which I do not believe that you will need to prove in the UK. If you have a printer for your computer, you can easily do it yourself.
I watch Linea Verde by satellite at home in the UK, as I do not get out to Italy often enough. It is often informative and the episode on Teramo was very interesting. The Benefit of watching it in England is that it is at a better time, as it interferes with Sunday lunch in Italy, which is far more important. Mela Verde on Rete 4 is on at almost the same time, with an hour's overlap, and I find it easier to understand the pretty dutch/italian presenter, who speaks fluent italian as a foreigner, than to understand italian spoken by a native italian speaker.
I can appreciate the problems referred to, as I have had a old stone house in Lunigiana for many years. Its' situation is made worse as the rear of the house is effectively a cliff face. We have found the only remedy when the house is unoccupied is to close all windows and shutters and to leave two dehumidifiers running, one on each floor. This does the trick, except when the bank forgets to pay the electricity bill! The Dehumidifiers are not running continuously, as they switch off when the humidity is down to a reasonable level, and I do not think that the cost of running them is great.
I am interested to read the various comments and advice given on the above subject last December, which I have only just read. I am British with a holiday home in Italy and I understand that the italian authorities would respect the terms of my will in the event of my death. I believe that it would be useful if I was to make a separate will relating solely to my italian house, as the italians do not seem to appreciate that an original english will cannot be produced to them, because it is retained in the english probate registry. I appreciate that italian succession laws on property might affect my italian property, if I was to die without leaving a valid will in England.
We own a house that is built into a cliff face and has running water on the ground, cantina, floor in wet weather. This used to create a lot of damp on the upper, living, floors, particularly as the house is left locked up from September until April. We tried ventilation, but this did not help. We have, for fifteen years or so, left two de-humidifiers running on low settings, so that most of the time they are not operating and burning electricity . This has been effective and not particularly expensive.
Comments posted
Thank you Badger and Amaretto. I think that holiday home insurance is loaded, although I do not let out my house. Intasure tell me that the big rise in the quoted premium was due to the cost of earthquake cover and removing this reduced the premium by more than £200-. This was still more than another internet quote that I had obtained and Intasure then reduced their premium by a further sum to make it competative. I decided, for better or worse, to dispense with earthquake cover, as I think that the only earthquake that may affect me is likely to take place in the Quirinale!
I am interested in the postings on insurance, as I have experienced a large increase in the cost of insuring my holiday home in Italy. I transferred to Intersure a few years ago, as they seemed to offer the best value and I have just had my renewal notice. The Premium required by Intasure to cover the building only, which is a detached stone built house, for their standard £1,000,000- is £410.47, plus taxes etc. I have never made a claim and I am amazed that Badger had a quote of £127.08 for the same cover and from the same insurer less than a year ago. My Premium in November 2010 was not much less than this year. I would be very interested to know what differentiates my property from Badger's. I have previously had quotes from Saga and Tower, both of whom were higher. I used to insure in Italy with Toro, who required me to enter into a ten year contract with them and could not say what would happen if I sold the property within ten years!
Brian, I would like to be in Lunigiana next week, but I won't be able to get out for at least a month and after that my house gets very cold, as it has no central heating. I would otherwise have been delighted to have the opportunity to meet you. Paolo
Brian, I would like to be in Lunigiana next week, but I won't be able to get out for at least a month and after that my house gets very cold, as it has no central heating. I would otherwise have been delighted to have the opportunity to meet you. Paolo
I will be interested to read your book `SAS in Tuscany`. I have a first edition of your father's book `Rossano`, published in 1955 and its' sub-title is `An Adventure of the Italian Resistance`. Is this the same book, which subsequently had a slight change of title or are there two books by your father? I have a holiday home that is not far from the Rossano Valley and I have seen the monument that your father had erected on a nearby hill. It is difficult today to recognise many of the features referred to in the book, which I found most informative.
Your executors will need to declare the value of your italian property to HMRC in the appropriate form before they can obtain probate in the UK, but the italian authorities are not interested in British Grants of Probate and only want to see your will that relates to your italian property. As you are British, you can only make an english (or scottish will if you live in Scotland) will, as has already been said, but I advise you to do a simple english will dealing solely with your italian property, which I do not believe that you will need to prove in the UK. If you have a printer for your computer, you can easily do it yourself.
I watch Linea Verde by satellite at home in the UK, as I do not get out to Italy often enough. It is often informative and the episode on Teramo was very interesting. The Benefit of watching it in England is that it is at a better time, as it interferes with Sunday lunch in Italy, which is far more important. Mela Verde on Rete 4 is on at almost the same time, with an hour's overlap, and I find it easier to understand the pretty dutch/italian presenter, who speaks fluent italian as a foreigner, than to understand italian spoken by a native italian speaker.
I can appreciate the problems referred to, as I have had a old stone house in Lunigiana for many years. Its' situation is made worse as the rear of the house is effectively a cliff face. We have found the only remedy when the house is unoccupied is to close all windows and shutters and to leave two dehumidifiers running, one on each floor. This does the trick, except when the bank forgets to pay the electricity bill! The Dehumidifiers are not running continuously, as they switch off when the humidity is down to a reasonable level, and I do not think that the cost of running them is great.
I am interested to read the various comments and advice given on the above subject last December, which I have only just read. I am British with a holiday home in Italy and I understand that the italian authorities would respect the terms of my will in the event of my death. I believe that it would be useful if I was to make a separate will relating solely to my italian house, as the italians do not seem to appreciate that an original english will cannot be produced to them, because it is retained in the english probate registry. I appreciate that italian succession laws on property might affect my italian property, if I was to die without leaving a valid will in England.
We own a house that is built into a cliff face and has running water on the ground, cantina, floor in wet weather. This used to create a lot of damp on the upper, living, floors, particularly as the house is left locked up from September until April. We tried ventilation, but this did not help. We have, for fifteen years or so, left two de-humidifiers running on low settings, so that most of the time they are not operating and burning electricity . This has been effective and not particularly expensive.