A friend of mine is thinking about buying an ex-display kitchen from Italy and has been told that there would be no custom duties to pay on importing to England. This sounds strange to me. Does anyone know whether this is true?
Maurice's activity
Questions Asked
Does anyone know if you have to pay custom duties if you take any of your personal furniture back to the UK? Gov.uk implies that you may have to but other sites "suggest" you don't. I can't find any clear guidance.
Thu, 05/27/2021 - 06:47
For those who haven't seen it, this is an interesting 1 hour Q&A by the British Embassy in Rome about the consequences of Brexit.
Mon, 07/27/2020 - 17:15
Page Format.
Previously the latest comments would appear on the top of the page. Now the page is in the date order of the original question. This means that recent comments (to old questions) all but disappear. Can this be rectified?
Mon, 01/13/2020 - 06:11
Acquiring Citizenship Jure Sanguinis
Thu, 12/26/2019 - 11:52
The Referendum! I was very surprised not to see some debate on the referendum. Very keen to understand what the electorate (at least those who voted "No") are hoping will happen next.
Mon, 12/05/2016 - 17:33
Has anyone seen the new site which details every comune's spend: http://soldipubblici.gov.it/it/home ? Allows you to compare your comune's per capita spend with others.
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 06:56
I see that everyone is running scared after the ridiculous convictions of the scientists for not warning about the 'quake in L'Aquila.
Sat, 04/06/2013 - 11:27
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/jan/31/can-italy-change/An interesting article by Tim Parks
Thu, 03/01/2012 - 10:29
Has anybody else had a 90% increase in their house insurance premiums from Intasure? Or was it just that they enticed me in with a low quote last year?
Thu, 04/14/2011 - 13:30
Comments posted
You say "with family connections". It depends on what you mean by this. If they are applying for citizenship jure sanguinis then a language test is not necessary. Otherwise I think a test may be necessary.
As I understand it (and I'm not an expert) if your grandfather was/is Italian then you can obtain citizenship and hence a passport. I don't think your mother would need to get hers first. If he renounced his citizenship (rather then holding dual nationality) then this may be a problem. The London Italian consulate website is helpful. You should contact the one in the US
Laura, I have now been told by the Italian embassy in London, Patronato ACLI and 2 separate specialist lawyers that it is the case that until 1948 women lost their citizenship (when automatically obtaining their husband's).
She doesn't have any naturalisation certificates as she automatically became a UK citizen (and lost her Italian citizenship) upon marriage,
Apparently there is case law establishing the fact that the 1912 law was discriminatory but the law hasn't changed, meaning individuals have to start afresh with a new action. The cost including expenses is in excess of €5000 and can take 2 years.
I think my best hope is getting a consular official to visit my mother in her home and obtain her application for citizenship.
Thank you Laura and Cinzia for your help.
It seems that in 1912 a law was passed that caused Italian women to lose their citizenship if they married a non-Italian man. This law persisted until 1948 (my mother married in 1947) when the constitution was written. I was born in 1951 hence to a mother without citizenship.
Lawyers have suggested to me that, given the 1912 law was discriminatory, I could file a lawsuit against the state. Apparently there has been a case where this was done successfully. Unfortunately the state hasn't got round to changing the law though. Of course such a route is likely to be costly and very time consuming (2-4 years?).
I will certainly contact AIRE as you suggest, Cinzia, but it has also been suggested that, while the comune may well show my mother as still being a citizen, when I apply for citizenship and forward my mother's marriage certificate my application will be rejected because my mother did lose her citizenship.
Grazie, Cinzia. I have already written to the honorary consul in Peterborough as it is not too far from my mother's home, in the hope they could visit her as, apparently, she can only reacquire her citizenship applying before a consular official. I'm chasing them as they didn't reply to my first email.
Have you (or anybody else) heard that a woman loses her Italian citizenship upon marrying, in this case, an Englishman?
I will try ACLI, thank you.
Picking up on the subject of electricity suppliers - I'm also with Servizio Elettrico Nazionale and have often wondered about changing but do not know of any comparison websites. I also find the "fixed" charges very high and am not sure how they are calculated. Has anyone had any success comparing suppliers?
I would be reluctant to recommend anywhere as everyone is different. We love where we are in the Apennines as it is off the beaten track, very beautiful, not too hot in the summer, the people are lovely and more. But it wouldn't necessarily be to everyone's taste. If you already have friends in that area and you like it then that my be enough, but do not rush in to anything. Keep asking around in various towns, villages around and I'm sure you'll find somewhere suitable.
Hi, Lin,I understood you were looking in North East Tuscany but it seems to be west so I can't really help. In the far east of Tuscany property can be very cheap and there is an abundance for sale. It may be the same where you are and I'd encourage you to talk to people in bars, builders etc to also find those which are not being marketed through agents.
We have owned a property in NE Tuscany for nearly 20 years now (North of Sansepolcro). Where are you looking? There are hundreds of properties available at very low prices so I would take your time until you are sure you have found the right one. We also know a number of trustworthy architects / geometri / builders and would be pleased to help if you need it.
A builder should be willing to provide an estimate, by means of a computo metrico using approximate quantities and based on a site visit. Actual quantities used when work carried out. This way you'll know what the scope of works are (whether any new structure required, type of guttering etc etc) and have the unit prices for the work. Ask them what the risks are (is there something they haven't included but may arise)