Exploring Italy’s “Save Home” Plan: key changes unveiled

The “Save Home” Plan introduces significant changes for property owners looking to address minor building violations in their properties, including updated thresholds for what is considered acceptable in terms of construction and execution, as well as a relaxation of the principle of double conformity The goal is to streamline the process of legalizing residential properties in Italy, thus revitalizing the housing market.

On May 30, 2024, the “Save Home” Plan took effect as a government initiative aimed at rectifying minor non-structural discrepancies in buildings. While these issues don't compromise the stability of the structures, they do impede the properties marketability, affecting activities such as sales or access to mortgages. The goal of this decree is twofold: to breathe new life into the real estate market by introducing fresh stock, and to alleviate the burden on municipal technical offices, which are often swamped by paperwork.

Currently undergoing conversion into law, the decree may see alterations or additions. One point of discussion involves potentially reducing the minimum habitable surface area from 28 sqm to 20 sqm for one person. Additionally, there's talk of introducing a “Save Milan" regulation to tackle building permit challenges in the city

What does the Save the Home decree allow to be remedied?

This decree expands the scope of tolerances, which are the limits within which building discrepancies that deviate from cadastral maps can be legalized.

• - Construction tolerances: these pertain to minor building deviations concerning heights, volumes, distances, and covered surfaces. Such deviations are not considered violations if they fall within specified thresholds ranging from 2% for properties exceeding 500 square meters in usable area to 5% for those with less than 100 square meters.

• - Executive tolerances: these concern small irregularities arised during construction, including geometric irregularities or changes in the position of systems. The decree extends tolerance to minor building size, omission of non-structural architectural elements, wall irregularities, changes in internal opening placements, alterations in works classified as routine maintenance, and discrepancies between design representations and actual construction due to design errors.

It's crucial to note that these new tolerance levels are applicable solely to projects completed by May 24, 2024. For projects initiated from May 25, 2024 onwards, the prior regulations remain in effect, with constructive tolerance set at 2%, for instance.

New free construction activities introduced

Two new types of activities have been introduced under the umbrella of free construction, a term encompassing interventions that don't require specific authorizations:

• - Sun and weather protection works: these include installations like awnings and pergolas aimed at shielding from the sun and atmospheric elements. These structures can be affixed or annexed to the property, as long as they don’t alter the building's overall volume or aesthetic harmony.

• - Removable transparent panoramic windows: permitted for balconies and loggias since 2022, these windows can now also be installed in building porticoes. However, it's essential that their installation doesn't result in any new volumetric additions.

Streamlining verification of building legitimacy

An important change concerns the simplification of the criteria for proving a property's legitimacy, a crucial aspect for any construction project and often required for property transactions or to qualify for tax deductions like the Superbonus.

An important change concerns the simplification of the criteria for proving a property's legitimacy, a crucial aspect for any construction project and often required for property transactions or to qualify for tax deductions like the Superbonus.

Now, however, it's only necessary to provide the enabling title that legitimized the initial construction or the one associated with the latest construction intervention on the property. This change assumes that the latest title has already undergone scrutiny to verify the existence of the original enabling title

Making double compliance easier

Before this decree, rectifying a building violation necessitated adherence to the concept of double compliance. This meant that the construction had to meet both the urban planning and building regulations in effect at the time of construction and those in place at the time of the regularization request.

Under the "Save Home" Plan, the process for addressing minor building violations has been simplified. Now, adherence to the urban planning regulations at the time of application submission and the building discipline in force at the time of intervention suffices. . However, the rule of double compliance persists for more serious violations, such as those executed without a Certified Start of Works (SCIA) or a building permit or those in total non-compliance.

The objective here is to enable the regularization of minor non-compliances that would otherwise remain unaddressed due to conflicting regulations between the time of construction and the time of the regularization request In any case, the regularization incurs a fine, calculated as double the increase in the property's market value resulting from the interventions, ranging from 1,032 to 30,984 euros. Public administrations are exempt from these sanctions.

Introducing tacit consent

Another step towards simplifying the regularization process concerns the response times of local administrations With the "Save Home" Plan, the regime of tacit refusal is surpassed in favor of the principle of tacit consent. This means that if a homeowner submits a request for regularization and the Municipality does not respond within specific deadlines, the request will be automatically considered approved

This means that if a homeowner submits a request for regularization and the Municipality does not respond within specific deadlines, the request will be automatically considered approved These deadlines are further extended of by 180 days for properties subject to landscape constraints.

Enhancing flexibility in building use alternations

Lastly, property owners have the option to change the designated use of individual real estate units, provided that the change occurs without the need for construction work and the transition falls within the same functional category. If the intended change involves different categories, it's permitted only within certain sectors (residential, tourist-receptive, productive-directive, and commercial), and typically restricted to specific zones like historical centers. There's a separate consideration for units situated on the first floor above ground level, where conversion to residential use is only allowed in cases explicitly outlined in the urban plan and building regulations.

Despite some concerns, such as the apparent oversight regarding potential urban density issues resulting from use changes, this policy marks a significant innovation. It enables properties to better align with the evolving economic needs and social dynamics of their surroundings, thereby fostering urban development. The complete text of Italy’s “Save Home” Plan is available for consultation on the country’s Official Gazette website.