HiI am British, living in the UK and part-own (with

Hi

I am British, living in the UK and part-own (with my brother - also in the UK) an apartment in Calabria, which was inherited from my mother in 2016. We went through all the appropriate Geometra and successione processes with the Italian authorities, so it is legally ours and we are registered as the owners.

The problem is that we never had any intention of using it either for visits or even to live in - it was our mother’s getaway apartment, when she wanted a break from the UK. We had no interest in keeping it or renting it, so we immediately put it up for sale through the same in-country agent our mother used to purchase it.

That was nearly 5 years ago and it still hasn’t sold, despite being advertised on both UK and Italian property pages. COVID hasn’t helped of course, but all we are doing is just constantly paying fees (property tax, water, refuse etc) for an empty property that we will never use.

I wondered if anybody else has ever been in the same position and if there was any advice anyone could give on how to move this place on ? We of course never paid a penny for it - it’s nothing fancy but it is worth around 75,000Euros, so clearly we’d preferably like to sell it - but right now, someone could grab an absolute bargain to take it off our hands !! :)

Any guidance or suggestions would be gratefully received.

Many thanks

Andy 

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In similar position. We bought elsewhere and wanted to sell our previous place that we stopped using. I know this is obvious but the usual rules apply, it helps to keep in touch with the agent so not forgotten and let him/her know what is your bottom line and understand the market, also tidy it up with a clean and reduce clutter so it presents better. Ultimately though dropping the price helps if it means avoiding more years of local taxes and deterioration.

Prices are generally lower than five years ago so maybe rethink your asking price.  Do keep in contact with the agent, not every week, but an email once every couple of months keeps your house in their mind.  Bear in mind that the market in southern ITaly is very much second homes - and 5 years is not unusual.    Obviously it depends where it is and what it is.  If the agent hasnt even shown it (ignore the last year) then lower the price, its obviously too expensive.