House Insurance - post earthquake. Unsurprisingly, our insurance company - has withdrawn our house building and contents insurance on our renewal this year, already having withdrawn earthquake cover from September of last year. Our house in March
clombardelli's activity
Questions Asked
I own a house in Marche, where we spend around 6 months each year.
Sat, 12/17/2011 - 10:36
We have had a house in Marche for 8 years, and a couple of weeks ago, for the first time, we received a bill from the tax office (Equitalia) - only for E43 - but it is for 'Consorzio Bonifica Musone Potenza Chienti Asola A.
Thu, 10/20/2011 - 06:51
There is so much to do and see in Le Marche during the summer with each small town celebrating with their own festivals. Sometimes I only got to hear of them by word of mouth from other tourists, or our local Italian neighbours.
Mon, 06/15/2009 - 08:30
I love to cook, and whilst my italian is good enough for basic shopping does anyone out there know all the terms/names when shopping in the butchers or fishmonger.For instance I have a wonderful recipe I want to try for a boned chicken, which also
Sat, 06/13/2009 - 05:30
I own a house near Tolentino, with around 10 acres of land. We normally manage to spend just the summers there, and whilst my local Italian neighbour farms the lands and keeps it tidy - we always seem to have a ton of general maintenance to do fo
Tue, 05/26/2009 - 09:01
Comments posted
Not an immediate solution, but maybe for next year - plant citronella - it is supposed to ward off mosquitos - also you can buy citronella candles in most places in Italy
We have a house with 10 acres of land which is under 'contract' with a local farmer, which we chose to do for 10 years, but it has a 1 year notice period on it. This is to ensure that if there is any crop on the land when we give notice, the farmer has time to collect it. We used a local 'farmers union' office to draft the contract , which was then officially registered. You have to pay a fee for this, but the farmer paid it, not us.If you want a copy of the contract, send me a personal message with your email address and will send it to you - it is in Italian of course.
I have used Charlotte Oliver, based in Rome but qualified in both uk and Italy. Can highly recommend.
thanks modicasa for that update - I am so pleased that this cannot happen to unsuspecting buyers now.
Please, please , please involve your own lawyer and/or geometra. We bought in Le marche some 13 years ago and were told the same thing. No need for your own lawyer, no need for a geometra - the notaio will check everything. However some years later we found that the previous owner had made changes to the property without any planning permission, fraudulently filed a new floor plan so that it looked all OK on the documentation - and we are left with fines, penalties for change of use, and a kitchen we can't call a kitchen as the ceiling is too low. We love our Italian home and lifestyle, but buying a property is one of the biggest purchases you make in your life. Don't take the risk just to save a couple of thousand pounds.
I am insured with National Farmers Union. Under their 'General Conditions' section of the insurance there is a 'Duty of Care' paragraph which states that
a) you must maintain the car which is insured in good working order and in a roadworthy condition
b) to comply with relevant statutory requirements and regulations imposed by any authority.
I think that they would claim that driving without an MOT- your car was not roadworthy, and it is the law in the UK to drive a car with an MOT and therefore you are not complying with statutory requirements. I think that they will not pay out for this claim. Sorry
We were also with Banca della Marche taken over by UBI - but I don't have any problems. All my direct debits are fine. The only issue with internet banking was that I had to set up a new account - apparently the old account does not have internet facilities, with new account number and card - which works absolutely fine. However, one of the minor complications is their security. When you make a payment or a transfer they text a code to a mobile phone, which has to be Italian. We have an Italian mobile phone so we are OK with that. The bank offered to transfer all of my direct debits to the new account, which I have not yet done. My branch is the one in Tolentino.
If you bought the house in joint names you will each typically be billed for 50% if the annual cost of the House Taxes.Our total annual rubbish tax (comune of Tolentino) last year was initially E183, which is worked out of square metre of property (all floors) - ours is 240. However, for the last couple of years we get a top up bill at the end of the year - which totalled another E46. This is an annual cost and it makes no difference whether you are there 52 weeks of the year or just 1. For IMU - which is the the equivalent of council tax - the comune in Tolentino do not send out bills. It is your responsibility to find out how much you owe - and then pay it. We normaly just go to the Comune office and wait until someone sees us and prints it out. However some comune's have web sites where you can calculate your own, print the forms and then make the payment.
I would try riding schools. There is a placewith horses just on the outskirts of Colmurano, and they normally have an enormous heap of manure in their field. You would probably have to bag it and take it home yourself. Also at Abbadia di Fiastra they have horses.
Thanks so much for all this information. Another question for you, if you don't mind.Did you engineer produce a report on how to seismic retrofit your house with detailed plans and costs ?My house was built around 1865. My structural engineer has produced a report to repair the house, which included the steel ties, and resin injections for the foundations on on two sides of the house. However I have asked him if there is anything else that is needed - like steel ties in the roof , etc, and I get a bit of the usual Italian shrug of the shoulders.Thinking long term, and about trying to realise an asset in the future, I was thinking if I could produce, for a potential buyer, the seismic retrofit report and then the invoices to show the work was done, that it would possibly have some value in the future if I wished to sell. Hope it's OK me asking you these detailed questions, but please let me know if not. Thanks.