1. Transfer taxes and stamps
2. Notary fees
3. Agency fees

Transfer taxes:

Let’s start with the trickiest one, the transfer taxes. Transfer taxes include: registration tax, the cadastral tax, mortgage tax.

1. The registration tax is payable for purchase of properties for personal use (not business or companies), is usually a standard amount of 1.100,00 Euro’s (one thousand one hundred Euro).
2. The ‘Cadastral Rendita’ is a taxable value calculated by the government for every building in Italy.

Cadastral Rendita⁽¹⁾: Cadastral meaning an official record of the land and property used for the basis of taxation; Rendita meaning revenue.

The Rendita is used to determine the amount of taxes due at the time of purchase and later to collect the amount of taxes that have to be paid yearly⁽²⁾. Be aware that these calculations are not based on the price of the house, they are based on the Cadastral Rendita.

 It was October of 2013 when I returned to Rome and Lake Bracciano, this time alone. This time I was on a mission: It was to collect as much information for the area as I could, to find the real estate agents who sold property and to take it home with me, so that I could take a look on line.

My holiday was a good one, I was traveling alone and was able to find time to enjoy the warm Autumn sunshine. The lake visit was sandwiched between two visits to Rome. The Eternal city did not fail to energise my mood and I was able to visit a lot of the sights that I had not seen first time.

I was pleased with myself, as by the time I went home I had found the option available to me that would hopefully enable me to find the property in Italy that I wanted. It was a property portal called 'gate-away.com'. I did several things to help me plan so that I could be ready when the right property presented itself. During the year I did a lot of looking and searching through the property portal gate-away that I had found. There was property advertised right across Italy, anything from mansion houses and palaces to tiny caves that had little to no facilities. I was quite taken by a number of little places dotted around the countryside near to Rome, but after speaking to a friend and thinking it through, it wasn’t going to be very helpful to myself to buy a property that had no electricity or water.

It was these thoughts that helped me to consider just what I did want and what practical things I had to consider.

Here is the tick list of my personal wants that I prepared during my year of searching for my house, it needed:

 It was a short romance with a man from England that started my love affair with Italy.

We had looked at a holiday together and Italy was on both of our wish lists. The Amalfi coast was on the list, but Rome won, somehow it had more appeal and all of the things I love to do on a holiday in one place.

It was absolutely the right choice. It was early June 2013, my father was seriously ill in hospital and I was a little fraught to be leaving him so poorly, he encouraged me to go and with his blessing I reluctantly left for our week away.

It was seven days of immersion into a city that had a charm and love about it that was so unique. Seven days was really not enough. It was a city that combined history, fine buildings and passages of time that collided with the modern world of fast paced commerce and visitors, all successfully moulded together to create the current capital. It was quite a trip, enjoying all of my most favourite things, the art, the history the food. With my father so ill at home, a trip to the Vatican was a must, I was so pleased we did. A guide was booked and she showed us around the Vatican city with competence and knowledge. She firstly stood at the Basilica and noted the disciples who occupy the skyline, she mentioned St. Peter and his keys to heaven which I have to say made an impression, since I knew I would be needing the keys for my Dad very soon.

Even in June the weather was feeling hot, it had been a shock even for the Romans as the heat had come after a wet and cold May, we made the decision early on in the holiday to take a train trip out to the countryside, an article in our hotel magazine mentioned the Lake Bracciano being nearby and a good place to visit. It did not disappoint and with a a swimming costume and towel we made our way by train to the village.