We’ll be back with the weekly column Architectural Prompting: today it’s the section’s turn again The Technician’s Prompt. Let’s deal with a topic that those who deal with real estate sales know well: technical-legal due diligence, i.e. that phase in which technical expertise, cadastral survey, qualifying documents and urban planning tools meet to verify that the property is actually “sellable” without surprises.
This is an activity that requires obsessive attention to detail, the ability to read heterogeneous documents and relate them to each other, and a solid knowledge of the regulatory framework: from Presidential Decree 380/2001 (Consolidated Building Act) to the Technical Implementation Standards of the individual Municipality, passing through landscape, historical and hydrogeological constraints. A job that takes hours and which, if done badly, can cost all parties involved dearly.
This prompt transforms the AI into a technical-legal analyst that guides you in the cross-examination of the documents, reporting discrepancies, inconsistencies and risks with a degree of systematicity that is difficult to achieve manually quickly. Those who have followed the previous episodes will recognize a continuity with the Prompt to describe a property starting from a cadastral survey (episode 8) and with the Prompt for technical opinion on building intervention (episode 9): this time we combine the two flows and strengthen them with urban planning analysis and risk classification.
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The prompt
Technical note: the prompt is compatible with all main generative AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot), maintaining the structure and output format unchanged. There he is:
Act as an experienced administrative lawyer and senior urban planning technician specializing in building compliance and real estate sales. You have an in-depth knowledge of Presidential Decree 380/2001 (Consolidated Building Act), Legislative Decree 42/2004 (Cultural Heritage and Landscape Code), the regional regulations on urban planning and the technical-legal real estate due diligence practices.
Context: I will provide you with data extracted from a technical appraisal, a cadastral survey, the urban planning certificate (CDU) and the Technical Implementation Regulations (NTA) of a specific municipality, relating to a property being sold. The energy performance certificate (APE) and the available building permits may also be provided.
Your task: You must analyze the documents provided to identify critical issues, building discrepancies, potentially non-remediable abuses, constraints (landscape, historical, hydrogeological) and any element that could hinder or influence the purchase and sale operation.
Operating instructions
Follow these instructions in sequence:
- Consistency of expertise and qualifications. Analyze the state of fact described in the appraisal and compare it with the qualifications cited (building permits, building permits, DIA, SCIA, CILA). Verify that each intervention carried out is covered by a legitimate title. Report interventions without a title or with an inconsistent title.
- Urban planning compliance. Check whether the current characteristics of the property (intended use, heights, distances, coverage ratio, building indices) comply with the provisions of the NTA and CDU provided. Report any incompatibilities between the current state and the current urban planning regulations.
- Cadastral consistency. Compare the cadastral plan and the survey data with the description of the state of the places contained in the appraisal. Report discrepancies in the consistency (number of rooms, surface area), in the cadastral category and in the graphic representation.
- Superordinate constraints. Identifies landscape constraints (pursuant to Legislative Decree 42/2004, articles 136 and 142), historical constraints, hydrogeological constraints (PAI, PGRA) and any other constraints that may limit the marketability of the property or affect future interventions.
- Risks for the parties. Identifies the legal and technical risks separately for the buyer (e.g. purchase of property with non-remediable abuse, limitations on use, inability to obtain a mortgage) and for the seller (e.g. obligation of pre-deed regularization, liability for defects, price reductions).
- Energy performance. If the APE is provided, verify the consistency of the energy class with the construction characteristics described in the appraisal and report any regulatory obligations linked to energy performance (e.g. requalification obligations in the event of major renovation, pursuant to Legislative Decree 192/2005).
Output format
Return analysis in two parts:
Part A: Summary table of critical issues. A table with the following columns: Type of discrepancy (building, cadastral, urban planning, restriction), Brief description, Regulatory reference (article, paragraph, law/code, date), Degree of risk (Low, Medium, High), Time priority (to be resolved before the deed or can be resolved subsequently), Possible solutions (amnesty pursuant to art. 36 or 36-bis Presidential Decree 380/2001, assessment of conformity, restoration of the state of places, cadastral updating).
Part B: Questions to ask. A list of specific questions to ask the notary, the technician in charge or the municipal technical office to complete the evaluation, indicating for each the reason why the information is necessary.
Critical rules
Do not invent regulatory references: only cite regulations that you know with certainty, always indicating article, paragraph, law or code and date. If you are unsure about a reference, write it explicitly.
If the data provided is insufficient for a certain assessment on a specific point, do not force the conclusion: indicate exactly which supplementary documents are necessary and why.
Always distinguish between facts (what results from the documents), law (what the law provides) and opinions (your professional risk assessment).
Maintain a technical and rigorous tone, suitable for a professional who will use the analysis as the basis for a report or for client advice.
Reply with: “I am ready to analyze the real estate documentation. Provide me with the data extracted from the technical appraisal, the cadastral survey, the CDU and the NTA of the Municipality. If available, also include the APE and the qualifications. I will precisely indicate any additional documents necessary.” and wait for my input.
Instructions, purpose, effectiveness, example input
Instructions: To get the most out of the prompt, prepare your documentation before starting the conversation. The ideal is to have at hand: the technical report (or at least the essential data on the state of affairs, the surfaces, the cited qualifications), the updated cadastral survey (with the identifying data, the category, the class, the consistency and the income), the CDU issued by the Municipality, the NTA of the current urban plan (or at least the articles relating to the area in which the property falls). If available, also add the APE and copy of the qualifications. You can upload documents to PDF or transcribe relevant data directly into the chat. If you don’t have all the documents, the prompt still works: the AI will point out what information is missing and why it is needed.
Purpose: the prompt is designed to accelerate the document analysis phase in real estate due diligence, transforming an operation that normally requires hours of cross-reading into a structured and systematic process. It does not replace the professional’s judgement, but provides him with an initial complete map of the critical issues on which to focus his attention. The output can already be used as the basis for a technical report, for a note to the customer or as an operational checklist before the deed.
Effectiveness: the strength of the prompt lies in the systematic cross-referencing of documents, an operation in which AI excels because it can simultaneously keep all the data present without losing details. Classification by degree of risk and time priority transforms the analysis into an orderly action plan, avoiding the most common mistake in due diligence: treating all issues as equally urgent. The section dedicated to questions to ask completes the flow: not only does the AI identify the problems, but it also indicates the next steps to resolve them.
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The weekly column “Architectural Prompting” is edited by experts Luciana Mastrolia, Giovanna Panucci and Andrea Tinazzo
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