Who knows where the time goes

Definitely not our Comune who have had for at least 6 months all the required documents and extortionate fees required to comply with the violation order we received.  MrFF found documentation showing they should have responded to one part of the process within 60 days and another within 6 months, both dates have passed.  Then again it took them 40 years to discover the planning was not in order despite giving a habitation certificate, two changes of owner and collecting the charges all that time.

We provided all the reports and details required and thought we were on the home straight until MrFF had a conversation with our late friend Giovanni’s daughter.  Basically he was asking if the Comune were expecting some cash in a brown envelope, she thought not which is just as well as we wouldn’t have paid.  However she did tell us that Giovanni went through a similar process and offered to show us the papers.  Basically Giovanni built his lovely house without any permission and applied during an amnesty period in the 1980s to regulate this.  The file was huge but the big shock was that after he had all the documents in place it took 10, that’s ten, years for approval to be granted, including a court case after the Comune gave approval that was then refused and annulled in Rome but reinstated by the courts. We are only at year 3, 78 years old and wondering if we will ever see the end.

We take a little comfort from the fact that there are two identical houses in our road, if ours is not acceptable neither are they, both neighbours tell us they have approval in which case why can’t we.  

If you want to join us in this challenge there is an unfinished house beyond Giovanni’s for sale, it’s basically just a concrete frame that was started more than 30 years ago with no access road.   What a surprise it has no planning permission,  belongs to the now retired local police woman and she wants 35,000 euro for it,  a small price to pay for years of frustration Italian style.