Fillide's activity

What colour is the neutral wire? Does your salvavita trip when you press the test button on it?

If the problem is widespread in your area, then you (and everybody else) should get together in an attempt to force your water authority (via the comune) to make some provision. If they can lay a main which will serve a village or two, and from there perhaps groups of outlying houses, the cost - though likely to be considerable - could come down to affordable. You must ask the right people - certainly the comune would be the place to start - and obviously the more requests the more likely would be any chance of suceeding. It might take a few years, but the right to potable water was recognised by the UN as a fundamental human right about ten years ago - and yes, it is going to cost Italy a lot to fulfil this promise, but that doesn't mean you should give up on the hope of them delivering it.

Rachel - you are absolutely right that this should be all part of freedom of movement within the EU - and clearly you are caught in a bind by trying too hard to understand everything which could happen. It won't (necessarily) because if you retain residency in Italy, but happen to be domiciled somewhere else, you do have the 183days a year 'tax' residence to "play" with. (I realise that using the word "play" inevitably implies some fiddling, but that's a misapprehension - it is a rule which is written for genuine cases such as yourself - but exploitable by fiddlers.) I do urge you - it's going to cost a few hundred, maybe into the low thousands - to get advice from a genuine knowledgeable cross border taxation expert. They aren't only there for the evil tax evaders - they earn most of their money from normal honest folk. This chap http://www.mjmurphyaccounts.com/index2.html is good on Italy/UK issues - I don't know if he can cope with pan-european or non EC considerations, but it'd be free to get an answer to that query from him.

  “In caso di dichiarazione mendace, o di trasferimento per atto a titolo oneroso o gratuito degli immobili acquistati con i benefici di cui al presente articolo prima del decorso del termine di cinque anni dalla data del loro acquisto, sono dovute le imposte di registro, ipotecaria e catastale nella misura ordinaria, nonchè' una sovrattassa pari al 30 per cento delle stesse imposte.   So, if you mendaciously claimed prima casa, you could be asked to repay the prima casa agevolazione, even without selling the house. I'd think it would be fairly easy for the agenzia to prove mendacity if (particularly) a foreigner behaved as you suggest SirTK - but even with a less clearcut 'tax evading' intention the agenzia does have a bit of wriggle room and you could find yourself in a position of having to prove non mendacity.

  Sorry, tried to but can't link to a pdf of a ruling, (not all of which is relevant to this discussion), and which dates from 2007/2009. If you want to read it the title from the Agenzie delle Entrate site is: RISOLUZIONE N. 213/E Roma, 08 agosto 2007   The paragraph which is relevant to this discussion is at the bottom of page 3 (concerning whether you have to pay back prima casa agevolazioni).   (Also a paragraph on page 4 quoting l'art.67, comma 1, lett. b), del D.P.R. n. 917, del 1986 (T.U.I.R) concerning plusvalenza.)   Now, it seems to me we are all agreed that plusvalenza (CGT) does not enter if you sell a prima casa in which you have been living for more than half the time that you have owned the property, (and there is nothing in the document I have linked to which does other than confirm this).   However, as far as a requirement to repay the prima casa agevolazioni, it is crystal clear that the document says that if you SELL your prima casa within five years (without buying another one) then you are liable to repay those reductions (whether discounted IVA or ''puchase taxes'' + sanzioni) - even if you have been living in the house for all the time that you have owned it.   What it doesn't give any guidance on is whether renouncing residency on your prima casa (without selling it) gives rise to any liability to repay the prima casa agevolzioni. I would say it doesn't, because Italians do this every day - either to rent somewhere else or live in their seconda casa. In addition, the only time at which this requirement to pay back would arise would be at an act of sale, when the notaio would pick it up.

I entirely agree Ram, it does feel very like the UK labour party just pre-Blair, although this time the issues are less about how left leaning the candidates are - more about their age or youth and their history. We haven't seen the final figures yet, but it seems highly improbable that Bersani will pick up 50% + 1, so it looks as if we will see a run-off between Bersani and Renzi at the weekend. My assumption would be that Renzi should pick up the Vendola votes, although Vendola is disappointing me at the moment by playing old-style politics and remaining coy about his choice between the two. That is a bit stupid in my opinion, because if Bersani offers Vendola some irresistible deal it will come to nothing, because (IMO) a Bersani led PD is much less likely to win a general election than a Renzi led PD. (Assuming we ever get to a general election!)

Couldn't you just bung in a small stove with a  bit of pipe, closing the opening above the stove with a lash up involving angle irons (if there isn't a convenient shelf) and a few extruded clay tavellone? Then you just take the stove away with you when you leave!

It is quite likely that the plumber is correct, certainly if it is a boiler over 35kW. It will also require annual or biennial inspections, mostly concerned with flue gases. I'm not clear on whether a smaller pellet boiler requires the regular inspections - it would seem quite likely that all pellet boilers have been put onto the same footing as gas boiler installations, but the time scale of the implementation of this rule will almost certainly vary between comuni or provincie.

I've definitely seen these things in OBI - a few years ago. The 'pipes' which formed something which looks like a log basket were about 35mm diam. The key word is definitely serpentino. Never used one! I do endorse the recommendation for Jetmasters - they are almost (well, about half way) as good as a closed stove but look miles better- I think they originated in South Africa, but maybe they now make them in the UK.

Check out (ask to download some radio) the GBs involved - you're talking Kbs!