UTILITY BILL La Brezza

[Joan]

Hi Gail and Mary,

Any ideas on who we can get some advice from on this situation. No point in going to Giambrone and Law, they're useless.

I emailed, them on Friday and have heard nothing back from them.

Still no word from Bella Calabria either.

Has any others members on the forum received the same bill, I wonder???

Joan

[Gail Moreton]

Joan/Mary,
I doubt anyone will be able to help us. After all they have us over a barrel. We need electricity and we need water.
Even so BC should first of all tell us officially exactly what their role is and how they come to know all our details. If they want money then they should send us a proper invoice on their headed paper and it should be by post not email.
Any money we have already paid to G&L should also be taken into account.

It all seems very random. I know people that have so far paid nothing but to date have not been contacted by BC.

From what BC have told me they were very surprised that anyone had paid connection charges to G&L. They say that the money we paid G&L has not been forwarded to them.
I am happy to discuss reasonably with BC but I am not happy to receive threats.
Let me know if either of you hear anything further from BC

[Joan]

Hi Gail,
Just to update you. I received an email from BC. asking me to forward a copy of my final completion statement from G & L. They said that they will have to chase G & L for the money that we paid for our connection fees.
I dont understand any of this at all. Every penny we owed on completion was paid in the Notaries office, the builders, the translater, the bank, the notary, and the connection fee and of course Giambrone. Surely there has got to be a record of it in the Notaries office too. We paid him enough!!!! Our notary was called Francesco Notaire, and his office was in Nicastro, Lamezia. Did you use the same one?
Joan

[Gail Moreton]

Joan,
We did not go to Calabria to complete. We used a notary in the UK and gave G&L power of attorney so that they could complete for us.
I have alrady forwarded my completion statement to Bella Calabria showing that I was charged 500 Euros for connection to utilities. They came back and said they must chase G&L for the money and they also asked me what else I had paid since then!! I told them nothing as a final statement is exactly that....Final.
I have heard nothing since and that was over a week ago.
Let me know if you hear anything more from them..................I am sure we will.

[Joan]

Hi Gail,
Just received an email from Dana, in BC. She says:-
Dear Mrs. McGrath,

Our lawyer in contact to G&L to get back the 500 euro that you paid for the Utilities Connection. That leaves you to pay the other 640 euro. The account number is in the attachment.

Regards,
Dana Damoc

In my last email to her, I asked for some form of receipt from whover Bella Calabria paid my utility fee to, but I haven't got or dont expect to get that from them,

Have you heard anything at all.

Joan

[Gail Moreton]

Joan,
I have had exactly the same email. I haven't replied yet but when I do I will be asking them to send me a proper invoice on their headed notepaper. I don't mind if they email it to me but I do want an invoice.
From talking to other people that have bought on La Brezza the average cost for these meters does seem to be around the 1000 euros mark so to be fair to others I will settle the balance, but in my time.
Regards
Gail

[Jane Williams]

Hi all,

We have now received an email from BC - they say that the total amount required is 2000.00,00 euro, but this is from their contract with the builder. This is broken downso that each of us have to pay 150 euro for the water connection, 800 euro for electricity + vat 20% 190 euro - a total of 1140 euro. This is not even a figure that divides equally into 200000 euro - the nearest is 175 - are there that many apartments at La Brezza that BC have dealings with?

We paid G&L 500 euro so they are asking for proof of this + 640 euro. It was never mentioned to us that there would be any additional payments, and I want to see BC authority to deal with this - we have never received anything from IC or BC telling us that there had been any change. We are in touch with an Italian family who has purchased an apartment, and will ask them if they have received anything.

Do you have any further developments? Also Ryan Air does not seem to be intending to have any direct flights to Lamezia next summer?

Jane

[Gail Moreton]

Hi Jane,
When Italian Connection pulled out I was told by Sam from IC that Bella Calabria would be taking over from them. However I have never received anything official from either party. I would be ineterested to see if the Italian family have received the same email as we have. Like you we paid 500 Euros on completion but I was sort of expecting to pay a further sum when we were actually connected and no longer on builders electricity. I want confirmation from BC that if I pay this it is the final payment and we will not face a further charge when we change from builders electric to ours.
I have been looking for direct flights but as yet cannot find any. Last year I booked on the 26th November so I am guessing the flights were not launched until then. I might try calling Ryanair to ask if they are going to reinstate the flights. I have found flights from Luton - Milan and Milan to Lamezia at a reasonable cost but there is quite a wait between connecting flights. Let me know if you find anything better.
Regards
Gail

[Joan]

Hi Jane,

Yes I got the same email, just recently. They seem to be just have the one email that they send to everyone. I received an email from Simi, who bought through in La Brezza through BC.
Cant send private messages on this forum, but you can email me, [e-mail]

I've noticed that there are no flights available from ryanair to lamezia for next year yet, its not looking good at all there. Looks like we will have to use the milan route or easyjet

Gail, use this email too, if you want.

We are contemplating selling the apartment, When you are in touch with your italian friends, can you ask them if they know someone who who will value it for me.

Joan

[Jane Williams]

Hi Joan and Gail,

Thanks for your replies. We have been in contact with one Italian family who hasn't received any letter or demand for payment, but we are planning to contact someone who lives nearby (but language may be a problem!). We will ask about a valuer.

Re. flights - there are free flights to Sicily at the moment (excl taxes) so we thought we might go that way and then get the train to Lamazia and hire a car from near the train st. It will certainly be a different experience!.

Jane