urgent help needed about a tenant

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09/23/2009 - 16:16

i hope someone can help.   my son has been given a house as a present from my cousin.there ia a tenant in the house  who has asked us for money  to get out.my son is married and has a baby son  and  is living in rented accomodation.we were told if my son was in rented accomodation he has the right to ask the man to leave and then my son and family could live in the house.the tennant has been in the house for many years  and  hase no contract with my cousinplease can someone helpthank you   sandra

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 This is a difficult one - Your son has a right to take the property if he wants it as a prima casa - but has to give notice to the tenant.  It all depends what contract your tenant has.  Usually, especially in the south, it is usual to pay the tenant to leave, or help the tenant to find alternative accommodation, but if you are prepared to wait for the notice period to expire it isnt necessary.   

 Because in Italy you have no means to help throwing people out.Their privacy is always guaranteed and you cannot change the locks etc. as you would do in denmark after the 3rd notice due to the tenant not maintaining his contract/not paying his rent. Often people just stay in the house and wait for the judge's decision which can take years.So you pay people to leave when you need it. Many prefer to leave their house empty instead of renting it out, to save themselves for this type of hazzle.Check your rights with a lawyer before deciding on your next step.Ciao

I don't know the ins and outs of Italian landlord & tenant law but it seems to me if the tenant isn't looking for too much it might be easier to pay it to him to get hom out immediately rather than put the time and effort into a legal battle where you end up paying more to the lawyers.What about the tenant moving into the property where your son is presently staying? Could they do a swop?

I have paid a considerable ammount of hard earned cash to a Geometra and a builder to renovate the roof of my apartment. It was completed less than a year ago and the contract was for waterproof membrane etc etc and what was required to make good. As you may well have expected within three months it was leaking another builder has looked at it and said that it hasnt been waterproofed where the roof meets the next property, just sand and cement. It will cost a E1000 to correct. I know that to persuade him to honour his obligations a solicitors letter is the only solution, but if all efforts are likely to fail and there is no real comeback on the builder or geometra its like chucking good money after bad. Free advice from anyone with knowledge on this subject would be appreciated.

.....which are that even if you are in the right the cost and aggro involved makes it not worth it.  No doubt you could go to court and prove that the geometra/builder's work isn't fit for purpose and you are entitled to compensation and interst and costs.  Meanwhile your leak is getting bigger and bigger over the years.If you want to pursue it legally you will need to show you have mitigated your loss.  So you need to get it put right first and then go to court.I'm talking from a UK perspective - and I'm sure locals will correct me if I'm wrong - but somertimes just putting it down to experience is the cheapest and less stressful way

Annec you are right under normal circumstances I would put it down to expierence and move on. I am aware that it needs to be corrected sooner than later. I have had so many problems with this guy that I am not prepared to let him get away with it this is what they hope you will do. This may or may not be true if it is it could help other people. When I made the sale on my apartment I was told that the vendor was selling becuse he was unable to risk a complaint for A YEAR because he had done dodgy building work. An English builder in Italy has advised me that if he does sub standard work and gets reported he will not be able to continue working for a period of time. A work colleague of mine who is married to a Italian had some damage caused to his property by a builder, who ignored him when questioned about it, his Italian relatives said lodge a complaint with the local police. Which they did, that certainly got the attention of the builder who hot footed it straight round to the relatives and made an offer. In the UK its easier civil claims can be made by youself with a self help DIY package for a limited cost. In Italy I dont have a clue.  But what the heck knowledge is power.He who asks a question is a fool for 5 minutes. He who does not ask a question is a fool forever. Chinese proverb         

 they may not work but you might decide its worth a go... first link is to a consumer org in emillia romagna..  because the further north you go the more legality exists around problems... and i will post it to you because it has various links leading from it to various consumer councils...being Italy pluralism is rife... http://www.ermesconsumer.it/inchiesta/pagina25.html below is the national site of one of the best known of the consumer help orgs http://www.federconsumatori.it/ then there is the national geometras site http://88.44.98.181/cng_new/index.aspx        this however may prove useless as indeed most of the above...however with a contract from the geometra and his charge to you ... they add a certain percentage ... usually another 3 % which is charged by his professional body  on all his contracted work.. this i would think would be a first line of attack...if not clearly stated on his card who he is insured by as regards his liability on his works... then a visit to him or his office to find out who his professional association is, there address and telephone number as you need to contact them for forms to initiate a formal complaint about the work  so that his public liability insurance can cover the costs of the faulty works might well move his lazy arse a bit...even if he agrees to start to put right the work still ask for the info and proceed ...explaining to him that it will save time in case the work is not completed within a few weeks and if it is then you will withdraw the complaint... may work... you seem determined and angry... for which i do not blame you at all.. it will need lots of full frontal bravado to make sure he understands you are not someone to be messed with i would have a formal letter available as well to as many consumer fed people in the area... and leave him copies... of those you are either about to post or have sent...he will also need to have membership of the local chamber of commerce wherever you are... i would visit them and request any formal docs you need to initiate a complaint regarding the work...  i agree that no one should be allowed to behave and get away with shoddy work unless you have paid them in black or they are not registered to do the work you used them for...  Italy is not a lawless country... there are many rules and regs not only via the state but each of us that runs a business here is governed by rules that have to be upheld to remain a member... so good luck and a good result please ...you sound bright enough and determined enough to maybe get something worked out

The only problem with this approach which I think is a good one would be the Geometra would use the same cowboys who did the faulty building work to begin with ! This is where we are on our project so I totally sympathise Ed.We decided that under no circumstances would we want the Geometras builders anywhere near our house again! 

 yours is to my mind a special case... you are caught up in most probably the most criminal of all the sellers and their cohorts in that area...  not alone sadly and there are others just as bad... am hoping that ed has just been the victim of a less organised and blatantly criminal organisation that you were involved in...funnily enough i just wrote back on an article her in Italy about the historical position of Abruzzo a regards south/north mentality or centrral... its a quite important definition of the mentality of the people that do work or are professionals.... and no its doesnt apply to everyone but is a general guide of what service to expect... the point of the article is that Abruzzo because of hard work and position, economic growth could now be regarded as firmly out of the south... indeed position wise most of the province of Teramo is further north than Rome... so geographically at least Abruzzo has some justification to be regarded as a central region...my reply to the article was that wealth and the opportunity of quick Euros has lead to a downward spiral of what is regarded by many in Italy as the soul of the people of Abruzzo ..its honesty and its hospitality... its sad to see that amongst its people are those willing to sell out their principles, their heritage of worth for a few euro ...  and that maybe Abruzzo is on the edge of moving from the southern mentality to the central north more law abiding and responsible ... but promises of quick killings are there and the people here need to make a clear choice to punish those that would sell the whole region out for a few quick pennies or sink further into the mire..  you know as well as i do all the general problems...we have all seen the criminal collapse and loss of life in L'Aquila.. if Abruzzo is to grow up and join the civilised world those people have to be punished, the regional president that was sacked for taking all the health funding needs to be prosecuted and serve time... Bussi...someone needs to pay... the Pescara water company needs to be punished.. the oil exploration needs to be managed in an environmental way...and the coastal towns north of Pescara need to be rescued from the grip of the mafia...a long way from the original question...  sorry.. 

And all the better for it.  People who speak clearly (or in joined up handwriting so to speak) are to be supported.  Is there any way of covertly understanding who the "most criminal of all the sellers and their cohorts in that area" are, so we can join up the dots?

 cannot say more...this is not the place... naming and shaming that is..........sad in a way... because there are forums that do a good job in that sense ... for instance in Calabria where they are bringing a class action against various agents and their cohorts.. but they are privately run and can accept risks... also its to do with apartment blocks so easier to get all the buyers in one room so to speak...the point about this lot is that people acting singly have fought and won re property probs but in general with conditional settlements on keeping quite..many have also bought without probs... but all agents here have to comply with laws that place upon them the duty under law to reveal all facts regarding a property... and this has clearly been not the case.. and by supplying a complete service via finance,restructuring and notarial work people buying are vulnerable to  purchasing a property with problems that are not revealed or accepting on good faith what is told to them..arriving at situations where money spent means that they then accept to spend further money because they do not wish to loose everything...what makes the situation worse is that many ex scouts then of this method of selling then decide they can make more operating on their own and so like a cancer Abruzzo due to its hotspot status is or was rife with the same sort of operators...supported often by lazy journalism in the UK..  hyping various areas.. and selling people here that were operating without any credentials..both Italian law and the economic crisis has to my mind helped to reduce this... but Abruzzo due to the earthquake in L'Aquila is firmly back on the map and its a region to my mind where if buying it is more than necessary to follow the buyer beware advice and to check carefully everything... and to not follow the sort of system of package holiday purchase where you blindly give yourself over to a complete and no worry service... a dangerous way 

I have spoken with a good and reputable solicitor and she seems to have other clients that have suffered at the hands of these people.I supect that at least those involved who speak English are following this forum and I hope that they are feeling at least a bit uneasy,but they have the trump card and that is the understandable reluctance of a British person to get involved with the Italian courts.Even the most optimistic outlook would mean months if not years of going backwards and forwards to various hearings ( if you live in the UK even more expense) and then at the end of it all what ? A botched job carried out under duress by total w.....s !!!!