modicasa blog

Catania airport is to close for most of November and flights will be diverted to Palermo.  At least, this is the decision at the moment, so everything can and will change.

The latest idea is to pay IMU in 3 tranches this year - the communes are up in arms, and the government will probably rethink.  Keep you posted.

The papers here are full of stories about sequestered villas and land, that have been sold to unsuspecting Maltese buyers with a guarantee of a concession to build.   If the land is protected under the piano paesaggistico, there is no real guarantee unless the concession has been released and the oneri paid.  In some cases there also needs to be the inizio dei lavori otherwise all the fine words from unscrupulous agents mean nothing.

It bears repeating, yet again, that Maltese agents are not allowed to sell property in Sicily unless they are qualified and registered.  Buying via a Maltese agent gives you no protection in law against malpractice or negligence.

The new piano paesistico for the province of Siracusa is now in force.  Before you buy any land, thinking you might build a house on it, check that it is in an area where it will be allowed.

The new law on using cash will not apply to tourists the government has said.  A non-Italian can buy goods for more than 1000 euros including VAT/IVA with cash as long as they have their passport available for photocopying.

here

The city of Ragusa is the first city in the area to intorduce the ’soggiorno’ tax - people staying in hotels etc will have to pay 1 euro a day for the privilege of staying in Ragusa.  After a fortnight this comes down to 50 cents a day - So far Modica, Scicli and so on have no plans to introduce a similar tax.

The courts have thrown out the last appeal against the introduction of the Piano Paesaggistico, so we are back where we were in September - at least for the province of Ragusa.  The provinces of Siracusa and the Egadi Islands now have to introduce their piano paesistico with urgency (by the year end they say).    All of which means that in certain areas you can no longer just buy a piece of land and build on it.

From today the rate of VAT (IVA) goes up from 20 to 21% on a wide variety of goods and services.

Milk, bread, tomatoes are not touched.  Newspapers remain as is.  Petrol gets walloped and all services provided by professionals - ie estate agents, geometras, engineers, architects must all - from today - charge you 21% VAT on your bill.

Its been valid for a year, now the case of the province of Ragusa is ‘won’ and the regional court have annulled the entire plan.  Construction companies are thrilled - everyone else, other than those who receive large bribes - is appalled.  It has to be started again from scratch…….