We had a good meeting with Gino and Andrea today at their office. They have received and checked all the documentation from the comune and are happy that there is a good match between the records and the house. They seemed pleasantly surprised so I guess discrepancies are quite common. They were also happy with the seismic interventions that are in place and with the permissions and sign off for those – which is reassuring.
Things of note with the plans are:
- The door of the second floor bathroom is not shown in the correct position. That gives us the option to move that door back to the position shown in the plan or to regularise the current position according to what works best.
- The rooms on the second floor are classified as attic and storage space. This means they will receive less scrutiny when we want to change things on that floor. It also helps to reduce the IMU property tax we have to pay anually.
- The fireplace that we want to remove from the kitchen is not shown in the plans, so we won’t need to get permission to remove it.
We showed them the technical drawings from Domenico which have more detail than the plans at the comune (e.g. room dimensions). They asked us to see if we could get the DWG file for those plans from Domenico as that will save a lot of time creating new ones. We have already received them from Domenico this evening and forwarded them to Gino. So that puts us in the position where they can start to work on the plans for the changes we want to make.
We discussed the priority work we want to focus on first and as much of it is internal, we should be able to make a start while permissions are sought for the project works.
- Electricity
We raised concerns about the frequency with which the electricity cuts out, the age and safety of the wiring in parts of the house, the lack of sockets in some rooms. We discussed moving the ancient fuse boxes into the services room. We also discussed moving the main inlet and meter. They said that would need to move outside, which seems dumb given that it’s a smart meter. They will arrange for electricians to inspect and quote, but first we need to document the number and location of new sockets etc. As we will not be able to replace the kitchen until the permission for the new door is granted, we will not be able to finalise our electric requirements until then. - Heating and cooling
We discussed a few options including solar panels, wood pellet burners, heat exchangers and combinations thereof. They will need to arrange for an inspection by a termotecnico (heating engineer) who can make recommendations and give options. We expressed concerns about the polluting properties of wood pellet burners which they attempted to allay. - Bathrooms
As we want to move the first floor bathroom, that work will need permission. We can, however, get going with the second floor bathroom. We briefly discused what we would like to do with the second floor bathroom. - Utility room
As this will be in the current location of the first floor bathroom, we will need to wait for permission. - Swimming pool
We discussed our plan to replace the existing wreck with a slightly larger above ground pool. We told them that we had received a quote from Systems-Pool, but that they require instructions from our geometra in relation to the non-pool works. Gino explained that we would need to get an assessment as to whether the ground is stable enough to support a larger pool and that they would seek multiple quotes. - Windows and shutters
We briefly discussed replacing the windows and shutters. We are happy to keep the six pane window style (which we probably have to do in any case) but replace with double or tripple glazed equivalents. We told them we want to have internal shutters as is the case now. We did not discuss materials (wood, PVC, metal). - Doors
We briefly discussed replacing the internal doors.
We discussed the use of the bonuses and made it clear that we wish to use them and plan to trade them with a bank. They were not really familiar with non-residents using the bonuses in this way, but we assured them we had spoken to people who have successfully done that. We explained that we were interested in using the renovation, facades and ecobonus schemes, but not the superbonus. We will have to get help elsewhere with trading the bonuses.
We briefly discussed a few of the projects which will be the major contributors to the permissions we will need to apply for. As our work will include heating and cooling, we will apparently need to get approval from some kind of energy commission. Gino’s suggestion was that we submit all our plans there first and that any approval granted by them will help expedite approval at the comune. Approvals take 3 to 6 months after submission apparently. Once granted, we will have three years to execute the plans.
We discussed IMU (council tax) for the house. You need to pay IMU each half year and our first payment is due in December. The council doesn’t give you a bill, but expects you to calculate your own liability. I tried to understand the calculation, but it was a bit beyond me. When I enquired from the comune, they just said ask your geometra. Gino asked us to try and get hold of Domenico’s last invoice for comparison with their own calculation. Domenico is not able to provide that as he has multiple properties and gets an accountant to do the lot together.
We agreed that the document we have started is a good mechanism for sharing our requirements and that we would flesh it out further and then share it again with Gino. They can let us know by email what further information they need and will also provide information for us to add to the document.
It was a really good meeting and we came away feeling that things may start moving soon.