You can now buy a house in an Italian town near Rome for €1

The hope is to attract more young people and families to the area.

A town in Italy is looking to encourage new residents to live there by selling properties for just €1. However, if you're interested, you must act fast and be prepared to renovate. 100 properties in the town of Maenza, which is just two hours outside of Rome, go on sale tomorrow. One catch, however, is that successful applicants must pay a deposit of €5,000 and agree to renovate it within three years of purchase. The homes are in a dilapidated state and require a great deal of work in order to be restored. However, the €5,000 deposit should be enough to cover a large part of the works. This amount will then be returned once renovations are complete. Not too shabby. It's important to note that there is no obligation to actually live in the house, particularly during renovation. Moreover, should you wish to develop the property commercially, into a restaurant or B&B, for instance, you'll need to submit planning permission. Maenza's mayor, Claudio Sperduti, explained the incentive to CNN Travel. He said: "We're taking it one step at a time. "As original families hand us over their old houses, we place these on the market through specific public notices on our website to make it all very transparent." Mayor Sperduti added: "This is not a dying city, people still inhabit the old district but it needs a revamp, fresh oxygen." The scheme's aim is to prevent realtors and developers from buying up the land, so that young people and families can move to the area. Maenza isn't the first Italian town to sell €1 homes with the intention of bringing new life to the area. The scheme was first launched in 2019 to encourage residents to live in areas that had been deserted. Other towns that have previously signed up to the scheme include the seaside town of Taranto in Puglia and Laurenzana, which is south of Naples. For more information, check out the town's official public notice website right here.