Ram's activity

However, if you are not planning to be really resident, but are doing the residence thing to save a few bob, and use your British entitlement, you will of course have no entitlement to use the NHS in the UK as according to the UK govt you have emigrated.   It isnt worth trying to play both games.  If you get residence in Italy, and are not living there for more than 183 days a year, get private health insurance - or you will just end up a NHSless limbo... 

Sprostoni is right. If you buy in both names, you get half the tax break each - so both of you must be resident to not pay ICI and take advantage of the 3% instead of the 7% imposte at act.  Health insurance must be valid for each year, until you have a right of permanent residence after 5 years.  The Court of Cassazione has passed a law this summer which absolutely denies any way of getting out of the tax breaks if you dont get your residence within 18 months.   I now advise most clients to not bother with claiming prima casa, because the costs are so high to qualify for residence - unless you are actually planning to live in ITaly, it is rarely worth the bother.  

It is the clients choice if they use a lawyer.  Most international lawyers will do what a notaio and a translator do but much more expensively.   IF you are using a registered agent and one who is a member of an association such as FIAIP, they will do all the due care and diligence stuff and have indemnity insurance.   THe process in Italy is much more opaque than in some other countries, though there is stuff (such as knowing whether someone will build next door) that you cannot know for certain when you buy, but your agent should explain everything and help you through the process.  Many lawyers, in my experience, throw up mythical problems which require solving, no doubt hours of expensive lawyers time, when in fact there is no real problem in the first place.  As with any business transaction, it makes sense to understand what you are doing before you start.

Fillide is technically right, but alot of notaios will not accept non euro/non Italian transactions.  Any payment not made through an Italian bank or in euros must have the full agreement of the vendor - and it is often the case that the cheque must be paid in and cleared before the act is signed, as with a bonifico.  A vendor here in Sicily would simply refuse to accept a cheque drawn on a foreign bank, not only do they have to pay their bank to clear it, but they wouldnt believe the bank existed.  With the amount of false cheques in circulation, it is much safer to use an Italian traceable bank, at least in the south.   By paying in advance, the risk is with the buyer - you are paying for the property, and if the owner doesnt turn up and sign the act of sale, you have just given him a very large present...  It would be very unusual, but there is a slight risk involved. A procura - power of attorney - is not a delega.  They are two separate things, and it is often much easier and quicker to sign a procura immediately followed by the act, the translation costs are much lower for a one page procura than a 6 page act, and if there is a mortgage involved which can have a 42 page act, a procura is indispensable. 

The sum payable to the vendor should be drawn on a bankers draft (assegno circolare) from an Italian bank, non transferable and all tehe cheque details are written into the act.  The notaios fees and taxes can be paid by personal cheque or bankers draft.  

It is neither binding nor legal to sign any form in Italian if you dont understand the language.  The law requires that it must be translated.  Your estate agent is behaving badly - which one is it?  I would advise very strongly against Giambrone - if you want reasons PM me - enough to say that Giambrone is currently fighting lots of lawsuits and is to be struck off the UK solicitors list - which is why - according to many - he is now operating out of Palermo.  Buying in Sicily is slightly different from buying in the rest of Italy - it is an autonomous region with certain different laws.  I am the only legally operating English estate agent based in Sicily and associate of FIAIP - if you need advice or pointers drop me a PM.  We collaborate with some agencies in the Trapani region - so I may be able to help out.  If you dont feel that the agency and the notaio are going to protect your interests, you should use a lawyer, but shop around. 

The law changed on 1 July - the notaio probably needs and wants an up to date planimetria of the property which si signed off by a professionista - otherwise the act will be null.  If the last catasto is from 1939 it is probable that the property has changed in some way since then, and needs to be recatasto'd before the act of sale an be stipulated.

Lidl?  They had an English food special a couple of months ago and I stocked up on vinegar, mint sauce, mustard and decent marmalade.   Otherwise I have to go to malta for malt vinegar..... 

Sebastiano is absolutely right.  Get a commercialista. Now. 

You can only sell without certification if you say that you have never touched the system and it is at it was when it was installed.  That could be 50 years old.  If you have done work and want the buyers to know it must be certified.