Appt. required in Sulmona (AQ), Abruzzo

02/10/2010 - 07:04

Our lease is up at the end of April and we are putting out feelers.  We've spoken to our local agents, asked our friends and colleagues, and we'll start to call the numbers on a selection of bright orange Affitasi notices that we've seen around town this weekend. We are a long way off buying a place of our own (we're buying a business first) so we'll need to rent for another year possibly. My academic year runs until the end of May and starts again at the beginning of October - I'm a teacher.  I really need to be within walking distance of the Sulmona CS from October (which is where we are now) but I'm prepared to commute in for May if needs be. Herewith our requirements in order of preference: 1.  Appt. in Sulmona CS available from May for about a year - suitable for 2 adults plus baby plus lovely doggie 2.  Rental for May, June, July, August & September somewhere within an hour of Sulmona and then back to CS from October 3.  Appt. for May only in Sulmona CS, and then anywhere nice for J, J, A & S and then back to Sulmona CS from October If you have a property (or properties) that might suit our requirement, or have a neighbour or friend who might be able to help, please get in touch via PM.   Thank you!

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 Hi Katy Can't personally help you out as I know it must be difficult trying to get one in a Particular location; but I have a friend down that way who I will get in touch with, as I think he has family there. Can't promise anything but will PM you if anything turns up. Ciao G

I thought it might be helpful to update other readers on our situation.  We are now in a beautiful appartamento here in the CS of Sulmona, where we want to be, on a 12 month lease.  To be honest it wasn't easy and it did in fact take us nearly 2 months from start to finish.  For starters there is not much rental property here.  I think that the Italians generally are not as transient certainly as the Brits in this respect.  The situation is no doubt better in the larger towns and cities.  We explored all avenues and probably saw EVERYTHING that was vaguely suitable that was on offer - a total of about 8 flats.  We found that not only does 'unfurnished' mean without any kind of kitchen at all - just tiles and pipes strategically sticking out (we did know this before) but in a couple of cases it was obvious that real work needed to be done - painting and decorating as a bare minimum.  Anyway - we found this flat through a property agency that doesn't actually operate in the rental market at all.  But 'Oh! - we might have something - come back tomorrow and I'll see if I can get the keys...'  We have paid an agency fee of one month's rent for this but in the end it boiled down to how much we wanted this place.  There were extra fees however.  We anticipated a condominio charge on top of rent (thankfully only E10 here) but hadn't budgeted for another E55 as our share of the 'contract tax' (?). No big deal but these costs do mount up...Thankfully our landlords are delightful and have managed to dig out an old cot from Nonna's cantina for our little one and she has lent us some towels and bed linen on a short term basis.  All's well that ends well but another lesson in patience (not my strong point) and the need ALWAYS to go and talk to local people - do not rely on Tinterweb for this kind of stuff.