½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

ours took about an hour -hour and half..........the Notaio read the whole thing out in ½ûÂþÌìÌà first ( it is quite long ...well ours was ) ..and then our lawyer read out the English translation...don't know if that is typical...but that is what happened at ours...hope it helps........we all went to the bar for a much needed celebratory drink afterwards !!!!

Did hear a horror story where it took all day 'cos the buyer didn't have a lawyer and the Notaio wasn't happy that certain things weren't translated.

We were there about two and half hours as there was an outstanding 60 euro unpaid on the ICI by the previous owner and we had to wait while he went to the post office, pay and return with the reciept. We that had to sit through the reading and the translation afterwards and the signing itself is a lenghthy process with everybody signing various documents.

Hope that helps :p

Our experience was similiar - about 1 1/2 hrs to go through everything in English and ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ. We were buying off an English owner who was not present (he was represented by his Geometra) and the money was being transferred in the UK. After all the paperwork had been gone through we had to call our bank in England (1st direct were brilliant and had everything ready to go for us) who made an immediate transfer to the vendors bank. We then all went to the bar and waited for the call to come from the vendor to say the money was through which took only 45mins. I think we were quite lucky - it can take several hours to tx money but by making sure we had set it all up and had someone really reliable at the bank at UK end of the phone it went like clockwork. By 2pm we were runnning round the house giggling and drinking too much prosecco.

M

Yes, usually it takes between 1 hour to 1 hour 30 mins.
Just one thing a lot of people are not aware of, the deed is not given to you straightaway, but is left with the notary together with the necessary money to pay the tax. It is the notary's job to go to the relevant offices and have the property registered in the new owners name.
This process normally takes a couple of months, you can ask the notary to send the deed with all the relevant stamps etc. to the UK or you can ask for the deed to be kept in their office until you go over and collect it. A lot of people choose this second option since you never know with the post!

yes...I forgot that bit ....in fact we forgot it at the time as well.!! :rolleyes: ...our Notaio prepared a document for us for our Permisso di Soggiorno confirming we had actually bought a property.......

[QUOTE=sandra.a.harris@btinterne]Hi

We are due to sign for our house shortly and wondered how long the actual ceremony or process takes - I know that the notaio reads the documents but?...

Any info gratefully receieved.[/QUOTE]

Experience and reading other posts in this thread would suggest that you do not make any other plans for the day concerned! Good Luck it really is (or should not be) a bad experience.