In Abruzzo, half an hour from the ski resort of Roccaraso and the same distance from the coast of Pescara, lies Pratola Peligna. This small town in the province of L'Aquila is the latest village to advertise some of its houses for sale for 1 euro. The initiative has gathered the desired results in a very short time, so much so that the first deeds of sale are about to be signed this July 2021. To find out more, idealista/news interviewed the mayor Antonella Di Nino.
The local council, led by the lawyer Antonella di Nino, took office exactly four years ago and from the outset, one of the priorities was to recover the large portion of uninhabited territory. "In our municipality we suffered the indirect effects of the L'Aquila earthquake, so we immediately set to work to reactivate the necessary procedures to receive funding to rebuild buildings".
But that's not all, because the Pratola Peligna municipal administration had to carry out painstaking work to get a clear picture of the situation and prepare the scheme. "After a year and a half of work, we realised that out of about 600 uninhabited properties, about 60% were property blocks, while the remaining 40% were abandoned buildings," explains mayor Antonella Di Nino.
In many cases, as the mayor of the municipality of Abruzzo explains, it was almost impossible to trace the owners of the properties, since "there were properties that were in the name of citizens born in 1890, in other cases the owners had passed away and the properties hadn't been inherited. In order to overcome these difficulties, map the properties and find the heirs, we also needed the help of volunteers".
Once the long census phase was over, the owners of the abandoned buildings were told to make them safe. "But in many cases we were told that owners were neither interested in nor willing to start doing work on these abandoned buildings," explains lawyer Antonella Di Nino.
The decision to sell the houses for 1 euro therefore seemed to be the solution that could solve the problem and satisfy all parties: owners (who would get rid of a problem), the municipality and potential buyers.
So, after a long process that began in 2018, this year the municipal administration of Pratola Peligna has approved its 1 euro house scheme and "on the 13th July the first 4 acts of sale will be signed, which we decided to symbolically stipulate right in the municipality," said the mayor Antonella Di Nino.
The purchaser has the obligation to carry out the necessary safety and renovation work within 3 years and, not to be underestimated, will be able to access a series of benefits from the government in order to benefit from the tax breaks provided for by law. In addition, the purchaser can decide, without any constraints imposed by the municipality, whether to use the property for commercial or residential purposes.