Mark D's activity

After contacting 5 I received a reply from only one. None of the others answer their phone. It may be that they are declining the calls from a UK number perhaps, or that they are simply very busy. (I can speak enough Italian to be able to speak on the phone).The only one who replied mentioned the fee/commission of one month's rent which I thought was hilarious (the one above), I did not realise it is normal.We're looking at central apartments in the northern cities of Ferrara, Brescia, Verona and Bergamo (we will not bring the car to Italy) which rent for between 750 EUR and 1350 EUR or a little more per month. Most have 2+ rooms (very central and small), normally 3+ and over 80m sq.The one that did return my email was for an apartment with 5 rooms.Am I right in thinking that the estate agent is totally responsible for the apartment for the whole contract, so if anything goes wrong such as the cooker, heating or the boiler failing, it is the agent's responsibility to get it fixed quickly and that is part of what the customer is paying for?

Those tax rates are incredibly high. Italy really doesn't want entrepreneurs or wealth creators, does it? :)17,220 EUR + 41% on income over 55,000 EURBut then perhaps it is "all relative":I see that people in Italy complain that property prices are very expensive.Compared with England, property in Italy is almost free. It is "being given away for nothing".But then in England tax rates are lower, so people have more to spend - but then most of that goes on property (mortgage or rent).I've been having Italian lessons for two years with two brilliant Italian tutors over Skype - but I would love to do a formal course - thanks for the link, I have "bookmarked" it. 

We are in a great hurry to find somewhere and to get registered before the Brexit date. We've booked an AirBnB in the beautiful town of Bergamo for three weeks to explore the major cities and hope to find somewhere quickly.The situation with estate agents is different in the UK:In the UK estate agents have been charging tenants fees to arrange the tenancy which have crept up over the years to as much as £400.However these fees were previously banned in Scotland and were also banned in England this year.https://www.reallymoving.com/news/january-2019/ban-on-tenant-feesThe estate agent works for the landlord, so it is the landlord who pays all the estate agent's fees.Only one of the estate agents I looked at - in Bologna - provides a guarantee that the details quoted are correct.I can see why renting privately (without an estate agent) is quite popular in Italy :)

Ideally Ferrara but also looking at Verona, Brescia and other smaller towns in that same area. As per idea above we can try two of three AirBnB places over two months in different locations to get a feel for the area.There isn't that much that comes up for rent that's central and big enough, I've mostly been watching the listings on Immobiliare.it so far and there are a few places which have been advertised for some time so we should be able to book to view those and will have time for an application to go through.This came back from the estate agent with regard to renting one place:"+ la mediazione dell'agenzia sempre di una mensilità a momento di sottoscrizione del contratto definitivo"It's the word "always" that really annoys me, as if this is normal. Maybe it is normal. I'm not paying an estate agent a thousand euros to print out a Word document.I'm self-employed so can prove income / no need for dependency on State and we *should* hopefully be OK as long as we register before January 31 (Brexit) and get residency sorted out.

That's a fantastic idea we hadn't thought of. We're torn between a few locations so this would give us the chance to try out quite a few places while tying down a more permanent place to live - thanks!

HiThanks for the reply. I do contract some pieces of work to others to do for me but I do not "employ" them as such, so I think that self-employed would work fine at the start.The UK leaves the EU on October 31 and as I understand it, Italy was the first country to guarantee continued rights for UK citizens already living in Italy so we would need to move quickly in order to avoid more difficulty with items #1 and #2 from my list.Mark 

I'm assuming that the best access will only be in the city (which is a shame as there are some beautiful places on the outskirts!)That said: in the UK, actually, the best networks are almost all in rural areas where fibre to the premises has been used, not VDSL. Since VDSL only reaches about 1.5km from the street cabinet/box, it's useless in rural areas.So it might be possible to find that perfect retreat out-of-town with really good speeds.Looking at the TIM website now, thanks - it's actually really cheap compared with what we pay here in the UK :)

Thanks!Centering our search on Ferrara - does anyone know of a resource that would help us choose the areas in which we could live, which are governed by the available internet speeds?