Owning property in Italy and especially Tuscany is many a person’s dream:
the chance to live the good life or as Italians would say, La Dolce Vita, but if you are not a cash buyer and require a
mortgage, here is some useful information about acquiring one.
Italian banks are favourable to making mortgage loans to foreigners
whether they are resident in Italy or not. The procedure however is long. Timelines can be anything from 2 to 3 months, occasionally even longer.
Before acquiring the mortgage you will first need to decide on the
property you wish to buy i.e. you are acquiring a mortgage on a pre-determined
property.
The bank will do both a valuation and a survey on this property in order
to ascertain its viability. The survey will not only assess the property’s structural condition, but
also determine whether or not it is fully compliant to national and local
planning laws.
Mortgages to foreigners rarely exceed 50% to 60% of a property’s market value.
Generally banks give mortgages for 20 years or less, but 30 years is a
possibility, depending on your age; the requisite being that one’s loan is paid
back in full before one reaches the age of 75 years.
If you are applying for a dual loan, at least one of the two parties, must
be within this age limit.
In order to apply for a mortgage you will need to supply the bank with
the following paperwork:
·
a codice
fiscale (Italian tax code) and/or social security number (US) or equivalent
·
tax
returns for the last two years (which will need to be translated into Italian
and legally authenticated in Italy)
·
Proof of
personal financial liquidity (bank statements) as well as details of all
personal assets.
·
All
pertinent documentation on the house (act of provenance, floor plans, visure, signed preliminary contract
and/or binding offer of purchase.) These documents can be provided by your
estate agent.
If you are living overseas while the mortgage is being processed, it is
possible – with some banks - to give a power of attorney to a third party in
order for all necessary paperwork to be signed at each step of the process.
The interest rates on a 20 (or 30) year loan would depend on your age,
your income and the value of the property estimated by the bank.
Interest rates can vary from 1.2% to 2%.
All of this
information has been carefully sourced, but please double check its accuracy
before taking any action.
