To save their villages from dying, Italians give out housing for almost free
“All the youth left the village and the village died” - this problem exists not only in large countries like ours, but also in small Italy.There are almost abandoned settlements with a population of no more than a hundred. And mostly elderly people live in them. The Italians have come up with a way to eradicate this problem and revive their charming borghi (Italian for "village"). Like, let's sell what no one needs for free! At a nominal price of 1 euro.
Earthquake as a starting point
Now more than two dozen Italian settlements all over Italy - from Sicily to the Alps - are participating in the Case a 1 euro project ("House for 1 euro"). And Vittorio Sgarbi invented everything in the early 2000s. He was mayor of the city of Salemi in Sicily. The historic city center was damaged by the earthquake, and the municipality did not have money for reconstruction. And then Sgarbi offered to sell the dilapidated real estate for 1 euro to anyone who is ready to invest in repairs. Thus, two birds with one stone were killed: both the houses were restored, and new residents poured into the city. However, the idea was not implemented. The project was closed by the prosecutor's office on the basis that it is impossible to sell housing, which could fall on your head. Nevertheless, after a while the idea was picked up by several other towns where there was no earthquake, but there were many abandoned houses.Their owners stopped paying taxes and wanted to get rid of this property by all means. The municipalities suggested: the owners can donate their homes to the city, and the city itself will find new owners for these houses.
Sold is a success!
At the beginning of the project, there weren't many people who wanted to buy an old Italian. One of the first participants in the project was the Sicilian village of Mussomeli in the province of Caltanissetta. Local authorities have tried to launch sales since 2015, but no one responded to their ads. But in 2017 there was a boom. - We received at least 60 thousand requests, and thousands of people came here, to Mussomeli! - told the municipal councilor of the village Toti Nigrelli. - We have sold over 100 properties.Life in the town immediately began to boil, whether it's a joke - as many as a hundred new residents, and even with money, and even foreigners. Because mostly, of course, foreigners buy houses.For example, the Argentinean Cecilia moved here: the woman went to Italy to unwind after the death of her husband. I spent the night in this town, and on the second day I bought an old villa, where I decided to start a new life. Inspired by this example, small towns in Italy decided to do the same. Well, the truth is, a great solution. Drain the entire dilapidated housing stock for foreigners who will invest in reconstruction.Soon, the project had a website with a real estate catalog, which is visited every day from 228 countries!
How much does it cost in reality?
Entering the right of ownership of real estate for 1 euro, a person immediately receives new obligations. Typically, he should do the following:
- sign a public act on the purchase of property within two months;
- incur all the costs for the execution of the deed of sale (notary, execution, transfer, registration, etc.);
- prepare and submit to the Technical Office of the municipality a project for the repair and restoration of the property, having received all the necessary conclusions, as a rule, within one year from the date of purchase;
- start work within two months, in some cases within twelve, from the date of issue of the building permit and complete them within three years;
- to ensure that the buyer fulfills his repair obligations, the municipality takes a deposit of 5,000 euros from the buyer for five years. If the obligations are not met, then the deposit will not be returned.
Overhaul in Italy costs on average about 100 thousand euros, and this with huge savings in materials and labor. Notary - about 10 thousand more. Registration of permits and conclusions - it's even difficult to imagine how much they will result in, it really depends on the particular house. The project of works from the architect is also a lot. So it is no accident that this program is held under the slogan "investment", and not, for example, helping the homeless find a home. More over, in different places there may be very different restrictions. In one town in Liguria, there is a condition that during the reconstruction the appearance of the building would be completely identical to what it was in its best years. In another town, in the province of Lecco, there was a scandal in general: it turned out that the cadastral value of these houses was very much overestimated, and those who became the owner of a home for 1 euro soon received an impressive bill from the tax authorities.
It's cheaper to find ready-made housing
The project had no impact on the Italian real estate market. The market has been in crisis for a long time. Finished real estate in fair condition can be bought for relatively low prices. For example, there is the state real estate auction ASTA, which includes houses and apartments that were taken from debtors for communal debts, or banks for non-payment of mortgages. And there apartments can cost much below market value. Our friend, for example, through ASTA bought a villa, the real price of which was more than a million, for only 300 thousand euros. Someone buys five-room apartments through an auction for 20 thousand euros, simply because the previous tenants, for example, an Albanian or Romanian family, decided to leave for another country, where they found a higher-paying job, and abandoned their housing bought on credit. And the bank only needs to return the balance on their loan.
Does buying a villa in Italy entitle you to a residence permit?
Not. The fact that a person is the owner of a house in Italy does not yet give him the right to obtain a "permesso di sozhorno" - a residence permit. You can buy a house in Italy, but come to live there as a tourist - with a tourist visa. Italy in this sense is still lagging behind other European countries (Portugal, Spain, Greece, Cyprus), which give a residence permit based on the purchase of real estate. However, having your own real estate becomes a bonus if a person applies for a residence permit on the grounds of business immigration (when he is ready to invest in the Italian economy from 500 thousand euros) or the so-called "chosen place of residence" - residenza elettiva (you need to be financially independent, be able pay Italian taxes, but with this type of residence permit, you cannot conduct any business and work activity in Italy).
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