Builders are generally a race apart from anyone else in whatever country you happen to be, neighbours come in all varieties from those whom you call a friend and would trust with your life and those whom you can do without , or seem from another era or even planet both species seem to be conspiring against me
Well the building site is on top of a hill at the end of a track in the commune of Castelnuovo Magra (Liguria just) and borders with Ortonovo in Tuscany. The site is reached by a winding road mainly in the commune if Ortonovo.
Well so far i have recieved 3 denucia in from residents in Ortonovo and the vigili have stopped trucks passing and effectively stopped the work on site. Two of these denuncia relate to the state of the road leading up to the house which has become degraded as a result of the builders moving earth in trucks too heavy for the road so I can sympathise with this . The denuncia were done by an avvocato (lawyer) at the Procura the lawyer happens to live on the road up to the house somewhere, just my luck. But whereas in the UK you would go to you neighbour and have a word and get assurances here in Italy I find myself in front of the local police, assuring them the builders will repair the road and unfortunatley at my expense! Aparently there was a weight restriction on the road but the sign was missing and had not been not replaced. Anyway we need to get the some trucks up with cement to finish the job so off to grovel to the Sindaco caps in hand. They started by saying that they are known in the area as being one of the more severe comunes in the area (great). If we want to start work they need a fideussione effectively an insurance policy which will act as a financial guarantee that I will pay for the repairs so next week a survey is required and once the value of work is assessed I will have to get this policy at least a friend of mine is in insurance so hopefully it will not be too difficult or alternatively I ask my bank. After this all being well they seems predisposed to let us proceed……. crossing my fingers, touching wood(england) and metal(Italy).
The third denuncia was from an elderly man who owns a ruin on some land not far from my house next to the beginning of the track which forms the last 400 metres of the route to the house. This is the kind of neighbour from hell you dont want to have. His denuncia relates to building materials he says we dumped on his land. The buiilding company is professional and has all the invoices for the dump we are using and the materials are not from my property. He has also been telling the builders we have no right to pass down the last 400 metres as it is a private road.This road has been used for access to the house since the house was built in 1983 and is used by the general public and other neighbours. Whether he will do anything more I dont know yet but but i will make a few more enquiries at the comuni as to the nature of this road as everyone else I speak to says its a public road/track or at least there is a public right of way on it.However I did speak to another nieghbour who finished renovating his property last year, he started 4 years ago and used the same road. Oh he said that mad old man tried to blackmail me when we started work too!
Well watch this space an update will appear soon, hopefully with good news and a picture with some progress! Lets hope all this good weather is not wasted with no work!!
Well the building site is on top of a hill at the end of a track in the commune of Castelnuovo Magra (Liguria just) and borders with Ortonovo in Tuscany. The site is reached by a winding road mainly in the commune if Ortonovo.
Well so far i have recieved 3 denucia in from residents in Ortonovo and the vigili have stopped trucks passing and effectively stopped the work on site. Two of these denuncia relate to the state of the road leading up to the house which has become degraded as a result of the builders moving earth in trucks too heavy for the road so I can sympathise with this . The denuncia were done by an avvocato (lawyer) at the Procura the lawyer happens to live on the road up to the house somewhere, just my luck. But whereas in the UK you would go to you neighbour and have a word and get assurances here in Italy I find myself in front of the local police, assuring them the builders will repair the road and unfortunatley at my expense! Aparently there was a weight restriction on the road but the sign was missing and had not been not replaced. Anyway we need to get the some trucks up with cement to finish the job so off to grovel to the Sindaco caps in hand. They started by saying that they are known in the area as being one of the more severe comunes in the area (great). If we want to start work they need a fideussione effectively an insurance policy which will act as a financial guarantee that I will pay for the repairs so next week a survey is required and once the value of work is assessed I will have to get this policy at least a friend of mine is in insurance so hopefully it will not be too difficult or alternatively I ask my bank. After this all being well they seems predisposed to let us proceed……. crossing my fingers, touching wood(england) and metal(Italy).
The third denuncia was from an elderly man who owns a ruin on some land not far from my house next to the beginning of the track which forms the last 400 metres of the route to the house. This is the kind of neighbour from hell you dont want to have. His denuncia relates to building materials he says we dumped on his land. The buiilding company is professional and has all the invoices for the dump we are using and the materials are not from my property. He has also been telling the builders we have no right to pass down the last 400 metres as it is a private road.This road has been used for access to the house since the house was built in 1983 and is used by the general public and other neighbours. Whether he will do anything more I dont know yet but but i will make a few more enquiries at the comuni as to the nature of this road as everyone else I speak to says its a public road/track or at least there is a public right of way on it.However I did speak to another nieghbour who finished renovating his property last year, he started 4 years ago and used the same road. Oh he said that mad old man tried to blackmail me when we started work too!
Well watch this space an update will appear soon, hopefully with good news and a picture with some progress! Lets hope all this good weather is not wasted with no work!!
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