Hello!

Are you hanging in there? Spring is here! You can see signs of it everywhere: the first tentative buds are on the trees, the days are getting longer and preparations for Easter are already underway. The end of February sees everyone in celebratory mood for carnival, which takes place the week before Ash Wednesday and culminates on Mardi Gras (martedi grasso, in Italy). Carnival is similar to Halloween, though you can dress up as anything as long as you can’t be recognised; kids go around spraying shaving foam on innocent passers by, large bonfires are lit and enormous quantities of food and wine are consumed (as ever).

This month a Norwegian neighbour of mine had a nasty shock. He works as a builder in Norway, so was determined to do all the renovation of his newly-purchased apartment in Italy himself. He brought over his own employees from Norway and they started work. A month on, the council got wind of them, especially as their presence was noted by the piles of rubble they were leaving outside on the pavement. The council surveyor, accompanied by the local police, arrived on the scene. They were ordered to stop and the water supply to the apartment was shut down. The Norwegian faces a criminal charge because he was changing the size of the windows without permission.

Now he will be forced to do what he was meant to before starting work: find an Italian builder registered with the Italian Chamber of Commerce, ask a geometra to write up a DIA asking for permission to renovate the apartment and then start work again. So these builders who have been paid to come all the way from Norway will have to be sent back home again. Had the Norwegian only been undertaking minor renovations, such as replastering and tiling, a simple Manutenzione Ordinaria letter would have been sufficient. However, he was working on the roof, changing the size of windows, knocking down walls: work that needs the intervention of a surveyor, or geometra, before being undertaken and it is certainly the kind of work that gets noticed by the council when you don’t have permission!

This is the kind of thing one has to beware of in a new country: actually, you would not be allowed to get on with major alterations in the UK without permission…funny how people think they can do this in another country!!

The council here has been busy allocating house numbers to country homes. It has been a typical example of how Italian bureaucracy can transform a simple procedure into an excruciating marathon. We were all asked to go into the council offices by the 31st of January to receive our new house numbers. When I went in, I was asked to sit down (already a bad sign) and was given – surprise – a form to fill in. I was then led into the bowels of the council’s underground cellars and there, among about 20 boxes filled with alphabetically-arranged papers, I was handed... another form. I was told to go across the road to the bank and pay 14.75 euros and then come back with the receipt.

Went to the bank, paid (not without signing other forms) and went back to the council office armed with my receipt. Was asked to sit down again (bad sign), filled in the rest of one of the earlier forms (can’t say which one, I was confused by this time) and I was ceremoniously handed a very nice aluminium plaque with house number and street name painted on. I was particularly impressed with a leaflet that went along with the plaque, informing me of my latitude and longitude, in case emergency services ever need them in future to find me. “Great!” I say innocently. “Thanks very much!” As I’m getting up to go: “I’ll let everyone know my new address then.”

Heaven forbid! “You can’t use that address yet!” says the horrified council employee. I sit back down again. Of course, it’s not over. That would have been too easy. I mustn’t inform anyone of this new number until the birth, deaths and marriages registrar has updated Land Registry documents and then updates all my ID card info etc. Only then can the new street name and number be used… Don’t call us, says the council man, we’ll call you. In the meantime I have tied my plaque to a nearby tree just to show that the morning wasn’t a complete waste of time.

It is not because of that experience that I have put my house, complete with new plaque, on the market. Yes, my house is up for sale, not because I am leaving Italy - I am not even leaving the area I live in - but I have decided to forsake my beloved woods for the bright lights of village life. It will take some getting used to, not being able to pick an apricot off the tree for breakfast or step out to gather mushrooms for dinner. However, I am looking forward to being able to participate in parties and festivals without having to argue about who has to drive. If you are interested in a detached house on a forested hillside in Liguria, only a 20 minutes’ drive from the Med, have a look at number 428 on http://www.liguria-rustico.com/inglese/50000/page%205.htm

In the meantime we are well underway to renovating our apartment in town. We wrote our Manutenzione Ordinaria letter, like a good boy and girl, to ensure permission for the plastering and tiling, and a geometra is writing up the DIA letter necessary for a new bathroom. The builder is there every day and things are moving along nicely. I promise ‘before’ and ‘after’ photographs as soon as I have some ‘after’ photographs ready!
Speaking of the Med, we were enjoying excellent weather in January, walking along the seaside in the sun in a balmy 15 degrees. Only about 200 kilometres away, Turin in Piedmont was enduring freezing temperatures and shovelling snow.

This month’s feature is an illustration of one of the complications that can result from having a home in the UK and a home abroad, complications caused, of course, by crazy Italian bureaucracy! We have currency news from financial guru Charles Purdy of Smart Currency Exchange, a quasi-legal insert and a Top Tip before closing. Read on to find out more.....

Enjoy it all and remember, I love to hear your views/comments/stories so if you have anything to say, email or call us on the number below. Better still, if you find yourself in the Hammersmith area, just pop in and meet me and the UK the team: the coffee is always brewing!

All the best,

Gianna Williams
Italy Buying Guide
The Overseas Guides Company
0207 898 0549 (call me!)
Gianna@OverseasGuidesCompany.com

Peter's Driving story

Peter has a house in Herefordshire and an apartment on the coast of the Italian Riviera, just over the border from Nice airport. He spends most of his time in Italy, but now and then drives over to Herefordshire. Peter takes up the tale:

“It all started about four years ago, though we didn’t realize it then.

My wife and I were happily driving along in our British (or rather Japanese) English-registered car on a nice Italian motorway when, unbeknownst to us, we were photographed by a well hidden speed-camera. We were later told that the rather blurry picture, which we never saw, revealed that we were driving at a speed of 10 km per hour over the speed limit of 110 Km/h. We hadn’t notice because our car only shows miles on the speedometer.

Two years later, in 2007 when vacationing in Italy, we received the post that our daughter dutifully sends us from Britain every two weeks when we’re away. In the bundle there was a registered letter from the Italian Embassy in London intimating that we had refused to accept delivery of another registered letter, apparently sent a few months earlier, requesting payment of a speeding ticket for the amount of 250 Euros and threatening dire consequences if we did not immediately shell out the cash. This is, of course, two years after the actual event.

At great expense the DVLA had been contacted by the Italian police and, based on the registration number, the owner (i.e. me), name and address had been discovered. The warrant was prepared (naturally in Italian only) and sent to the Italian Embassy, which was in turn instructed to send the whole thing to me.

What transpired from our subsequent investigations was that, at the time when the Italian police claimed we had refused the letter requesting payment, we were in fact again abroad together with our daughter; no evidence was ever found that indeed anyone had ever attempted to deliver the original fine.

Be that as it may, with a great deal of indignation for this injustice, we enlisted the help of an Italian lawyer in seeking the appropriate redress.

We were promptly advised that, in order to appeal, we first had to pay the € 250 or this fine would be immediately doubled, and, should we fail to pay, our car would be impounded, our dog shot at sunset and our name erased from all monuments….or similar and equally distressing consequences. Pay we did and the legal Calvary began. Silly us, we had forgotten that as an average the most simple civil trial lasts over 10, yes 10, years.

Our solicitor lodged our appeal with the appropriate Justice of the Peace (the competent Tribunal for simpler cases) and the waiting began. A few months went by in total silence, then we were called to appear in front of the aforesaid J.P. Law abiding citizens that we are, we went with our solicitor to the audience. The Police did not appear at all.

Having read our submission, interrogated us and the solicitor, the JP declared that he would carefully study the matter and call us back (obviously requiring our return from the UK). The audience was adjourned for a future time, to be advised.

Slowly time ticked away for some months when the call came: we were summoned back to Court. This was last year, three years after the event! As we thought it was merely to hear the sentence, we let the solicitor attend on her own. Instead, the JP wanted to see evidence of our whereabouts throughout the period, as if our movements had anything to do with the matter at hand.

Result: session adjourned to a date four months hence!

At this next session, which took place two weeks ago, my wife submitted herself to interrogation, provided documentary evidence of where we were when the fine was supposed to have been delivered, why we were in Italy, etc etc. My spouse tells me the judge was very nice, an admirer of anything English, spending time to pleasantly converse about various things.

And then the long awaited moment of truth arrived: the sentence! Or so everyone thought.

No! The friendly JP stated that, the whole matter being so complex, spanning international borders, and so on, he required some time to reflect, study and then deliberate.

We are waiting to be summoned, again.”

http://www.ItalyBuyingGuide.com/property.htm
and we will put you in touch with really good professional people to help you in your search.

Stop the Value of your Pension from Decreasing!

by Smart Currency’s Charles Purdy.

Many Brits abroad unknowingly lose money when receiving their monthly pension payment. Often a pension is paid in sterling at a UK (or off-shore) bank, exchanged to Euros and then sent to the pension holder’s overseas bank account. Alternatively, pensions are paid into a Sterling account in their overseas bank account and then exchanged into Euros for use.

By using the standard banking system, money saving options are overlooked, unnecessary charges are made and poor currency conversion rates are applied. In the end, the pension holder loses around £50 - £100 unnecessarily on every transfer. In some cases, the pension holder can lose much more. The solution is to use an international payment specialist rather than a bank.

The money saving option – fix the currency exchange rate
Mr Benson retired overseas at the end of 2007. In January 2008, he contacted a payment specialist, explained that his monthly pension amounted to £1,134 and wanted to know what options were available. After a chat with the specialist, he decided to set up a regular payment with a fixed exchange rate of 1.33 for the full year. In January, he received €1,508.22 in his overseas bank account and continued to do so every month for the full year. To set up this facility, Mr Benson set a standing order from his bank to the payment specialist and paid a small administration fee.

If Mr Benson had decided against fixing a currency exchange rate, his monthly amount would have decreased along with the weakening sterling rate and by December his payment would have fallen to €1190.70 - a 21% drop in value. Banks often fail to offer or even to mention the option of fixing a currency exchange rate for use in the future.

Avoid Charges
Banks in the UK and overseas seem to charge for anything they can get away with. When working with an international payment specialist they will help to reduce and often eliminate most bank sending and receiving charges. Why pay a fee if you don’t have to?

Get good exchange rates
International payment specialists offer exchange rates that are guaranteed to beat the rates provided by the bank. Banks often set their buying and selling rates for currency in the morning – when you visit a branch, you’ll see them hanging on the wall. Specialists, however, don’t set the rates in advance but call into the market floor to get you the best rate possible at the time of transaction.

Watching the value of your pension depreciate can be soul-destroying. Receiving €900 rather than €950 can cause great anxiety. Both situations can be avoided when discussing matters with an international payment specialist.

Charles Purdy is a Director at Smart Currency Exchange Limited – the only international payment specialists in the UK that work specifically to help people moving money for property purchases or for regular payments such as mortgage or pension payments. To move money to Cyprus or repatriate back to the UK go to www.SmartCurrencyExchange.com for further information.

To read the latest on Serling and the Euro go to: http://www.ItalyBuyingGuide.com/Currency270209.htm

Smart Currency is offering Italy Buying Guide readers a complimentary ticket to the Dolce Vita Exhibition on 27th – 29th March (worth £16). The exhibition is a life style show which will give you a taste of Italian food from real Italian delicatessens, wine tasting from Italy’s finest vineyards and show you celebrity chefs working their magic. Industry experts will be on hand to chat to…All this AND the Italy Buying Guide folk will be handing out free mini versions of our guide on stand P214. To claim your complimentary ticket courtesy of Smart Currency Exchange call the Overseas Guides Company on 0207 898 0549.

Why overseas property buyers lose money...
...and how you can avoid it!

This 10-page educational report outlines:

• Case Study: When Property Buyer, Mr Reed, Purchased an Overseas Property, he Made Three Mistakes that Cost Him £10,256...learn how you can avoid them...
  
  
• How the Banks make HUGE profits from their long-standing unsuspecting customers
  
  
• Ways to safeguard yourself against adverse fluctuations in exchange rates (or in other words, helping you to keep your money in your pocket)
  
  
• The entire process of moving money from the UK to any overseas location, so that you're armed with all the knowledge you need to make intelligent decisions about your money
  
  
• How you can ultimately save £100’s and £1000’s so that you have ample money to buy furniture and white goods…
  
  
• More case studies of people that lost money due to foreign currency strengthening against the pound, so that you learn from other peoples mistakes rather than your own!
  

And just a couple remarks about the report from our readers...

" We have found your free report to be extremely helpful... Wendy Watson"

"I have read and absorbed the information in the stories outlining the mistakes which the uninitiated can make when transferring currency. It is very illuminating and essential that any one,like myself, who is in the process of buying an overseas property should be aware of. I would go so far as to say that every agent selling overseas properties should be compelled to advise their prospective purchasers that it is paramount that they use a currency expert such as yourselves. Regards, Eric Thomas"

To get a copy of the report at no charge go to: http://www.smartcurrencyexchange.com/freereport.htm

To get a Better-than-Bank rate go to: http://www.smartCurrencyExchange.com/smartsquotation.htm
or call Carl on 08081 630 102 freephone.

Property of the Month

Il Grillo, Pieve di Camaiore
Price: from €230,000 to €380,000

What could be more romantic than this? Il Grillo is an old monastery in the process of being restored, situated in the Roman town of Pieve di Camaiore – see the smaller photo.

This restoration project recalls the typical Tuscan hamlet and re-interprets an old lifestyle in a contemporary manner. The ancient monastery has been restored by respecting the original structure and bearing in mind the original spaces, using construction materials and finishes that are traditional of the area. It consists of 14 spacious one or two bedroom apartments with either one or two bathrooms. All apartments have fantastic views over the hills and olive groves or the valley and the sea.

The apartments are very spacious and measure from 78 sq m/840 sq ft, featuring wooden beamed ceilings and stone walls. Each apartment has an allocated parking space, and there are large communal gardens and a swimming pool.

This hamlet is surrounded by unspoilt natural beauty and situated less than one mile from the village of Camaiore with shops, bars and restaurants. It is conveniently located just 6 miles/10 km from the long sandy beaches of Tuscany and the well-know sea resorts of Viareggio and Forte dei Marmi, and it is just half an hour drive from Pisa Airport and the medieval town of Lucca. Florence is just over one hour away.

This splendid Tuscan hill-town boasts a quite unique landscape... in fact it can offer beaches, sea, mountains, hills and lakes within a very short distance – not many places can boast that.

If you would like to know more about this wonderful project, please just pick up the phone and call 0207 898 0549 or go to :

http://www.ItalyBuyingGuide.com/property.htm

and fill in the form and we will put you in contact with a property person concerned with this project, or indeed someone who deals with property anywhere in Italy.

Top Tip

Unlike the UK, estate agents must have professional qualifications and a licence from the chamber of commerce. An estate agent will have their ‘iscrizione ruolo agenti immobiliare’ number displayed on their letterhead, and will be a member of FIAIP or FIMAA, the two main Italian estate agency federations.

Off Plan Property

We all know that the property market is not as healthy as it was a couple of years ago – BUT there are those that say that NOW is the time to buy as prices are very tempting… and that buying off plan property is the way to go.

Why? Well, many developments take months or years to complete, giving you instant equity from capital growth before you even been handed the keys. Also, many property developers accept small deposits which can be as low as 5% of the properties value – this means that you need only hand over a relatively small sum of money initially.

I found a great site where you can have a look at property investment opportunities worldwide. Whatever you are looking for - from ski lodges to beach retreats for relaxing holidays, or a place in the city for weekend shopping, you'll find a house, home, apartment or condo that hits the spot.

And if you are a ‘greeny’, then most new houses are being built to energy efficient specs – add to that the fact that build quality is guaranteed - if anything goes wrong, the builder will put it right – and I think it is worth looking into. Want to have a look? Then go to:
Worldwide Property Investments

James Villa Holidays

We at the Guides Company have often talked about holidaying or renting a property near your dream location before actually buying abroad and now I think I have found the perfect solution for you in the shape of James Villa Holidays.

James, the original founder in 1984, is still running the show – always a good sign. The accommodation they offer is reasonably priced and personally checked out by the same people that do your bookings. Nothing like personal experience is there? Needless to say, the property checks include health and safety aspects too.

They offer properties across the Mediterranean and beyond, so they will almost certainly have something at your destination. I went into the website it was all I could do to tear myself away – a holiday in itself just looking at some of the lovely homes on offer!

They also offer a one-stop shop for the essential elements of your holiday, with great prices on flights, ferry crossings, car hire, and travel insurance – what a wonderful time saver.
Why not click on:
James Villas

and have a look? Incidentally - and importantly - James Villa Holidays have ATOL protection, which means that, in the event of any problems, your payments are protected. I don’t know about you, but that is one thing I am making sure of lately!

Just go to:
James Villas
and see what you think.

Italy Property Buying & Investment Guide

If you haven't already purchased our excellent FULL Guide why not get a copy today?

Years of investing in property abroad and talking to readers who have either bought or plan to buy property overseas means that we are really up to date on the whole property buying process. We are able to give you step by step guidance on exactly how to go about this sometimes scary process.

The media is filled with doom and gloom, but just because the economic outlook is a little on the gloomy side it does not mean you have to postpone your property plans. On the contrary, it actually couldn’t be a better time to buy, providing you do your sums correctly, buy in the right place and use reliable, professional people to help you.

Let the Guide help you with all this – and more. Every step is clearly and simply outlined, starting with the initial idea to buy all the way through to areas, how to buy land, investment options and many top tips. What is more, there’s a money-back guarantee if you don’t like the Guide so you have nothing to lose! For more information go to: http://www.ItalyBuyingGuide.com/Guide.htm

Goodbye for now

We are continually delighted at the tremendous feedback we regularly receive from our readers. As you know, our service is personal, we are happy to talk to you on the phone or correspond with you by email. When you call us, you will always get through to a real person, no machines, no waiting, no pressing of endless buttons! So please do feel free to pick up that phone or write us an email.

I leave you with the words of two of our lovely readers, Eric & Mary:

“I am sure it is through yours and Kim’s efforts that many people that would have given up the idea of having a holiday home or emigrating have only succeeded by following the path through your Property Buying Guide also with your following support has made it possible. I am just at the beginning of the long path but with your help I know we will end up living in our tranquil surroundings in our dream home,

For your continuing support Mary and I thank you both,

Eric , Mary White”

Should the cold weather get you down, why not visit the La Dolce Vita show in Olympia, London from the 26-29 March, with your complimentary ticket from Smart Currency? You can enjoy a taste of Italy there and meet the team of the Overseas Guides, who will be delighted to chat to you. We know that many readers have been planning their Italian property purchase for years - one reader said that as soon as they enjoyed their first glass of prosecco on their balcony, the stresses of the credit crunch seemed a life away – that could be YOU in a little while!

Kind regards,

Gianna Williams
Italy Buying Guide
The Overseas Guides Company
Gianna@OverseasGuidesCompany.com