Hello,

I am having trouble finding a rental property in Tuscany. We want to buy a place eventually but before doing so we want to rent somewhere.
The first problem is that they always ask for a job contract. I don't work, I have a sold a business and have money in the bank, yet no good because this is
not a contratto a tempo indeterminato.
Second problem, we would need to register the residenza, at least for healthcare purposes but for some reason for a lot of the properties marketed for rent the agency does not allow the tenants to register their residence, even if the contract is a year long one. The comune tells me they are happy with this type of contract yet the landlords are not happy with us registering the residency.
Has anyonr had this type of problem? The standard of the rental properties is not great in general and if you add the issues I have just listed, it becomes difficult.

Have a look at the local facebook groups. There are often people posting property rentals. Umbria is much cheaper for property than Tuscany and I suspect theses obstacles might melt away if you move south.

Hi, I was specifically looking at Lucca.
I see your point about the South but that is not an area I am interested in.

Have a look at this group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/935076623191428/

Here to be shot down (as always), but get on the ground by moving into an Airbnb or other short term rental to get yourself on the ground. Once there I’m sure if you try hard, opportunities to rent will be there! Certainly Fartbook groups where you can organise a rental would be great. Maybe contacting some holiday rental folk for out of season renting would be a good idea.

Your problem isnt only confined to the north. A contratto transitorio - up to 18 months, is designed for people who are resident elsewhere and are only in a place to work or study - for this reason many owners are against taking residence in the property. Italians who have properties in places like Lucca think they will earn more renting it as an airbnb than a normal rental, so dont want long term tenants as they very difficult to remove if they dont pay their rent. Your options are: 1 pay up front - I did this in Naples 20 years ago (mainly due to the good exchange rate) but I paid a years rent in advance and the owner was very happy. Avoid an agency - you will have more luck getting a private landlord to rent to you than an agency, which ultimately just wants their commission. Most Italians like renting to foreigners because they pay on time. So look on Facebook, subito.it and get your boots on the ground and put the word out in the local bar.
However, your contract must be registered by law and there will undoubtedly be the odd home owner who thinks youre a soft touch and they can rent to you in nero. Dont go there.

And do you have/need a Visa a Permesso di Soggiorno etc or do you have an EU country passport?

I bet there are a lot of Brits renting out their properties since the 90/180 day rule came in force. Getting and renewing an Elective Visa is quite a bother.

Yep. Absolutely. It's very typical. There's three reasons:
1. rental contracts that allow residency give tenants much more protection under Italian law than UK law (which, one might argue, is a good thing) -as Modicasa said
2. people think they can get more from short tern letting (as someone else, sorry I forget who, said above)
&
3. You need to build trust with the landlord. Trust is built in a different way in Italian culture. We tend to think that if everything is clearly stated in an open way between two people who don't know each other then that means they're building trust. Italians tend to be much slower and dislike talking openly about what is in a contract. The old way to do this was to move to Italy and get a short term rental, get to know people in the area and then use these friends and acquaintances to find somewhere to rent...bit more difficult now if one needs a residence address in order to get a visa before going there

I think the only option is to offer someone more than they would likely earn as an airBnB for whole year's rent and pay in advance and stipulate they must register the contract with comune with you as resident...this will inevitably mean you might have to make some compromises and maybe rough it a bit. First place we rented was very old fashioned and had dodgy electrics etc...but it got us 'foot in the door' wiht local community, we moved out a couple of months later becaause they had found a buyer, even though we had the right to stay there for a year, this then curried favour with the estate agents, and suddenly properties became available to us that hadn't been listed before...unfortunately it's who you know...welcome to Italy

I would apply for citizenship jure sanguinis but of course I need to register my residence first. To do that the Shengen visa is enough.

A Schengen visa is not enough to get residency.

It is in order to start the jure sangunis process. Once started one can then apply for a full pds.