The Save-Home Decreepromoted by the Minister of Infrastructure Matteo Salvini, was designed to remedy small building irregularities and relaunch the real estate market through regulatory and procedural simplifications.
However, six months after its introduction, the measure finds itself mired in delays and operational uncertainties, thanks to the lack of application tools such as the guide manual promised to municipalities and professionals. With procedures blocked and technicians without clear indications, the risk is that the decree will fail to achieve its objectives.
What is hindering the implementation of Save-Home and what could be the consequences for citizens, professionals and local administrations?
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The ambitions of the Save Home Decree
The Save-Home Decree is one of the most ambitious reforms in the construction sector, with the aim of addressing a series of problems that have been holding back the real estate market and administrative efficiency for years. One of the central issues is overcoming the double compliancewhich currently prevents the amnesty of properties that do not comply with both the legislation in force at the time of their construction and the current one.
This bureaucratic constraint has blocked millions of homes, making them effectively unmarketable, with a negative impact both on private assets and on the overall economy of the sector.
Another crucial point is the increase in manufacturing tolerancesi.e. the possibility of remedying small discrepancies in building works without having to undertake complex regularization procedures. This change aims to simplify the management of practices, reducing the workload of municipal technical offices, which are often overloaded and lack the resources necessary to manage thousands of pending requests.
The decree also introduces the simplification of procedures for change of intended usefacilitating interventions that can make a property more functional to the needs of the market or the owner family.
Added to these measures is the adoption of silent assenta principle that provides for the automatic approval of building practices if the administration does not respond within a set deadline. This mechanism, already used in other regulations, aims to streamline procedural times and reduce the discretion of local administrations, guaranteeing greater certainty for citizens and professionals in the sector.
The potential economic impact of Salva-Casa is significant: in addition to putting approx four million homesthe decree would allow municipalities to collect significant amounts through oblations provided for the regularization of building abuses. These funds could be reinvested to improve local services and strengthen technical offices, creating a virtuous circle between economy and public administration.
However, these ambitions must deal with a complex reality: territorial inhomogeneities, the difficulty of implementing the new rules and the lack of clear tools for practical application. For this reason, the decree requires effective and shared operational support, which currently takes the form of tools still under development, such as the guide manual announced by Minister Salvini.
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Delays in implementation: the crux of the guide manual
One of the main obstacles to the success of the Save-Home Decree is represented by failure to publish the guide manualan essential document promised by Minister Salvini to support municipal technicians and professionals in applying the new regulations. This tool, which was supposed to be deployed by November 2024, has been pushed back to the end of the year or, more likely, early 2025.
The manual does not limit itself to providing operational instructions, but represents a real handbook for the management of construction practicesincluding specific forms, practical examples and criteria for calculating the payments required for the regularization of building violations.
His absence is creating significant operational uncertainties: professionals do not know how to correctly fill out Certified Reports of the Start of Activity (SCIA) or Building Permits, while Municipalities do not have uniform guidelines for evaluating and approving the practices.
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Territorial inhomogeneities and the impact of differentiated autonomy
One of the major obstacles to the uniform application of the Save-Home Decree is represented by territorial inhomogeneitiesdue in part to the differentiated autonomy that characterizes urban planning and construction management in the various Italian regions. This regulatory fragmentation makes it difficult to guarantee a common line, leaving room for divergent interpretations and applications by local authorities.
For example, Regions such as Emilia-Romagna, Umbria and Sicily have already provided practical indications for the implementation of the rules, while others, including areas with high urban density, are still awaiting operational clarifications.
To further complicate the situation, there are entities such as the Municipality of Rome which, despite having adopted its own provisions, has excluded some simplifications, such as those linked to the change of intended use, generating further uncertainty among citizens and professionals.
This regulatory fragmentation also has a direct impact on the confidence of operators in the real estate market. Non-uniform rules create uncertainties about the timing and outcomes of the amnestieswith the risk of further slowing down the recovery of the sector. Furthermore, the mandatory involvement of the Revenue Agency introduces further variables that can complicate and prolong the procedures.
To address this complexity, the Government is working to standardize the regulatory framework, with the aim of ensuring that the Save-Casa can be applied homogeneously throughout the national territory.
The review of Consolidated Construction Lawexpected by December 2024, could represent an important step in this direction, offering the opportunity to integrate and clarify the rules of the decree, reducing territorial disparities and strengthening coordination between the State, Regions and Municipalities.
