Advice and Topics: things you must know when buying in Abruzzo and Italy.
- Darling, I'm sure that for the view alone it's a bargain, but... what about the car?
LOCATION: THE NUMBER ONE FACTOR
When referring to the most important factor in determining a property market value, everybody agrees that location is the most important one. Professionals examine a complex group of features in order to obtain an objective value figure for real estate.
Every town hall (municipio) around Italy has four main official legal instruments which discipline the urban development of each village or city (1 piano regolatore generale, 2 piano regolatore esecutivo, 3 piani particolareggiati, 4 regolamento edilizio). Both surveyors and agents evaluating a property are able to know and should know the following:
- if the area is classified as urban or agricultural;
- if the area has planning limitations;
- if the area is undergoing ejectment;
- what is the IF (indice di fabbricabilità) of the land, i.e. how many cubic meters of residential or commercial structures can be built on the land;
- size of the plot (smaller plots have a higher unit value);
- shape of the plot (plots with regular shapes are valued more than those with irregular shapes);
- lenght of the road front (a longer front makes the plot more valuable);
- width of the road;
- position of the plot (plots on flat land are more valuable);
- orientation of the house (houses orientated towards south are more valuable);
- land quality;
- distance of the plot from electricity, gas, sewage public systems;
- accessibility to the main road;
- quality of the view from the house;
- degree of local pollution of water and air;
- position of the plot (central, outskirts, etc);
- distance from schools, shops, offices, hospital, public transport, etc;
- area quality of life (are there any factories or are there any parks nearby?);
- landscapes beauty in the area;
- efficiency of local public services;
- degree of noise pollution in the area;
- legal limitations (possibility of ejectment for public use, active or passive rights of way).
Now you know better why the location is the most important aspect of a property in Italy.
HOW GOOD IS THAT HOUSE IN ITALY?
A good start in understanding how houses are priced is to take into account the location
Next you should consider if the house is ready to live in or it needs renovation.
Then you look at the size and adjacent pertinences.
After that, it is essential to know the year when the property was built.
Next you look at the possibility to expand the house (or not).
Finally, your agent will look in the area at sold properties, similar to the one you've chosen and compare the selling prices in order to help achieve an objective market value figure.
Obviously, these are just general guidelines before reaching the haggling stage where you negotiate the price, ask your agent to lower his commission fee and make the owner an offer he just cannot refuse.
PRELIMINARY CHECKS WHEN BUYING A PROPERTY IN ABRUZZO
The following are the vital things to check and the most important documents to examine, through your agent and notary, before you commit any money to buying a property in Abruzzo or Italy in general:
1) ELENCO SINTETICO DELLE FORMALITÁ
(ordinate per tipo nota e tipo soggetto per le trascrizioni,
ordinate per tipo nota e data di presentazione per le iscrizioni e le annotazioni
This document is issued by U.P.I., once called the Conservatoria dei Registri Immobiliari, now called Ufficio di Pubblicità Immobiliare, i.e. the Public Registry of the province to which the property belongs to.
It contains the history of all public acts carried out by all owners of that property during the past. It gives you the guarantee that who sells the property is the genuine owner of the property you are buying.
2) VISURA CATASTALE
This is issued by the Agenzia del Territorio through its Catasto offices and other outlets.
It gives you a summary of size, category, value and taxable basis of the property.
3) CERTIFICATO DI DESTINAZIONE URBANISTICA
Very important: it shows what use you can do with the property, i.e. if you buy a villa and the certificate shows it is a shop instead, well...you know what is happening and better be careful in going ahead.
4) CONCESSIONE EDILIZIA
You must get this from the seller, as it is the document showing that the local council authorized the construction of the house and/or all successive works related to it.
5) DOCUMENTI DI CONDONO EDILIZIO
Very important: it is one or more documents showing that the council recognized (or will recognize) as legal any work carried out without proper authorization procedures in the past on the property. You may think of it like an amnesty certificate for illegal buildings.
6) ICI TAX RECEIPT
In Italy the house or land council tax is called ICI. The seller must pay the ICI tax up to the end of the month in which the sale is happening.
7) CONGRUITÁ URBANISTICA
Everything stated on all the above documents must not be contradictory. Your agent will help you understand better all this.
Once all these issues have been cleared, then you can start thinking of signing a Preliminary Agreement of Sale.
PLANNING PERMISSIONS IN ITALY
Generally speaking, the Comune (council) is the official authority that gives planning permissions for three main types of work:
1) new buildings and expansion of preexisting buildings (with increase of total cubic size or volume);
2) old buildings restoration work
3) restructuring of buildings which implies:
- increase of "unità immobiliari" (rooms)
- modification of the total cubic size (volume)
- modification of the shape, external design or surfaces
- change of destination use
In order to speed up the release of building activities permissions, i.e. those activities with a minor impact on the territory, a procedure called DIA (Denuncia di Inizio Attività) has been introduced since 1996. It works like this:
- the owner of the property presents to the Comune a declaration that work will be carried out on the property (and hands in the declaration 20 days before works begin), attaching the project documents which prove that the work will be in conformity to "strumenti urbanistici" and "regolamenti edilizi" (all building regulations basically) and will respect the security and hygiene regulations as well;
- if the Comune, which checks the conformity to law of the work beginning, does not find any irregularity in the declaration and therefore does not contact the owner in order to stop the works for any eventual irregularities within the 20 days period, then works can be started;
- the person in charge of the project must also present, after works has finished, the "certificato di collaudo", a certificate proving that the result of the work is 100% ok as far as structure, security, hygiene, anti-seismic, etc rules are concerned.
DIA is free of charge, you do not have to pay one cent for it. DIA is, in short, applied to work on buildings which are not ex-novo and do not produce an increase in volume.
So, for any work you are going to do on a property, you will need either a planning permission or a DIA.
THE PURCHASE PROCESS IN ITALY
I could write volumes on this subject, but it is not necessary for you to know all the boring bits regarding the exciting adventure of buying your own place abroad in Abruzzo.
What I intend to do here instead is to explain the different scenarios which you might encounter in a variety of purchase situations and the best solutions to adopt, together with a brief description of italian property regulations.
I would also like to offer my advice in choosing the right holiday house or property investment abroad.
So far I have been able to notice three main groups of buyers:
1) Buyers who wish to buy a property in Abruzzo for holiday purposes only;
2) Buyers who are after a property for investment purposes;
3) Buyers who need a permanent home in Abruzzo.
Each of these categories require different solutions for their purchase projects, so let's see what these could be.
The first group is the most recurring one in my job. We are talking of couples with or without kids, whose main concern is not the beauty, size or value of the property they buy as much as the advantage of being in the right spots of Abruzzo, where they can enjoy as many tourist attractions, sport facilities, nightlife entertainment and food&drink places as possible. Their priority is often to make the most of Abruzzo's gorgeous nature hotspots by spending more time outdoors then inside their pretty italian home.
What I suggest to them is to buy newly built houses or homes ready to live in, with no renovation to carry out, a decent but not excessive house size, a fair driving distance from the international airport of Pescara (30 minutes maximum), and of course houses located in the best possible location of the region.
This is where I can help you in making the right choice, strong of my Abruzzo's territory knowledge and experience.
The second group has a wider choice of options, simply because they can surely purchase property which matches the criteria of the first group but also consider more articulated situations, where for instance they want to buy a ruin and turn it into an agritourism (a farm open to the public for eating and lodging) or purchase a big house to restore and make a few apartments out of it for sale purposes.
My advice to them is to carefully plan restoration work time-schedules and costs together with being very selective in choosing the local professionals who are going to get the job done and extremely choosy in deciding the location.
I can help with all this, guiding you through the jungle of italian bureaucracy and paperwork marathons.
The third group has a lot in common with the first one, with one difference: the house is more important than the entertaiment outside. Peace and quiet are a must, public transports a welcomed extra, shops and services obligatory.
The choice here is very easy, as Abruzzo is not a large region, so the options are just two: a city or a village.
My job in this case is to thoroughly describe the quality of life in the areas you have chosen.
If you want to buy a property in Abruzzo, purchase a house in Italy, a villa or a ruin to restore, rent a country home for a holiday, make wine in your own Montepulciano vineyard, build a farmhouse, start an agritourism business, invest in building land abroad or relocate business in property and real estate overseas, HouseAbruzzo is your qualified italian real estate agent and property consultant, offering quality services, post-sale assistance, professional advice and helping you with accomodation booking, car hire and travel information and all you need to make your holiday perfect.
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