The Italy-wide “Case 1 Euro” initiative is a bid to reclaim derelict properties, as well as attract investment and residents to breathe new life into poorly populated rural areas.
Increasing numbers of young people have been leaving the Italian countryside in favour of city life in recent years, forcing elderly relatives to leave vacant homes to the local authorities. Second-home owners often do this too, in order to avoid the taxes attached to owning a property in Italy.
These abandoned houses and buildings are then put on the market for the negligible sum of €1 – although there are usually strings attached to the purchase, which vary between destinations.
Conditions that buyers must abide by might include planning and completing the refurbishment of the property within a set timeframe, and committing to live there for a minimum length of time.
In Mussomeli, buyers must restore the exterior of the property to its original façade. However, the inside of the house is yours to do with as you choose. But time is of the essence: failure to renovate the shell of the house within three years results in a fine of €5,000.
Although the houses on offer cost almost nothing to purchase, buyers should be realistic about the amount of work and capital needed to renovate these often-dilapidated buildings. On the upside, a tax exemption ‘super bonus’ covers buyers for 110 per cent of qualifying building expenditures.
Sicily is the centre of the €1 homes scheme, with numerous towns and villages that have seen continual decline and depopulation opting in, but other destinations on the Italian mainland have also signed up. Emilia-Romagna, Abruzzo, Piedmont, Puglia and Campania are among the regions where the initiative is currently running.
