The Save-Home Plan is a new state order that introduces significant changes for property owners who want to address minor building violations in their units, as well as see a relaxation of the double compliance factor.
The objective is to simplify the process of legalization of residential real estate in Italy, thus revitalizing the related market.
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Save-Home Decree: a law already active
In the month of May 2024 and precisely on the 30th, as a government initiative, the Decree known as Save-Home which aims to correct small non-structural discrepancies in buildings. While these issues do not compromise the stability of the structures, nor do they impede marketability, affecting activities such as sales or access to mortgages.
The objective of the plan is twofold, namely to give new life to the real estate market and alleviate the load on the municipal offices involved, often overwhelmed by bureaucracy. At present the government plan is waiting to be converted into law and could therefore undergo modifications.
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The importance of knowing the Save-Home Decree thoroughly
For lovers of houses and real estate investments in general, the topic of the Save-Home Decree affects them closely, as it provides for the possibility of carrying out renovations or selling a structure with all the trappings of regularity. The aforementioned government plan, which has already been published in the Official Gazette on 24 May 2024, proposes some measures that aim to simplify and regularize minor construction violations typical of Italy.
Simply put, for homeowners it is a way to get help in case of difficulty. To give some examples, if in a house you want to close off a balcony with large panoramic windows or you intend to transform the garage into a studio, the recent decree facilitates both operations in a simple, clear way and without annoying bureaucratic obstacles.
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What does the Save-Home Decree establish and provide?
The Save-Home Decree is a new regulation which aims to resolve some typical minor building irregularities and tends to favor property owners by providing them with the possibility of regularize internal interventions and making any purchase or sale easier.
This decree however, it is not a building amnestybut rather represents an opportunity to remedy small construction differences such as partitions, walls created with plasterboard or the construction of mezzanines.
At the same time there is the possibility of abolishing the so-called double conformity, that is, of obtaining various permits for any constructions and of forwarding certified reports capable of complying with the regulations in force from the initial phase, i.e. that of the application up to the realization of the actual works own.
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What does the Save-Home Decree allow you to remedy?
With this decree the scope of tolerances is expanded, i.e. those relating to limits with which building discrepancies with respect to cadastral maps can be legalised.
- Construction tolerances: these are those concerning small building deviations relating to heights, volumes, distances and surfaces, with the latter equipped with covers. These discrepancies are not considered violations if they fall within specific thresholds which oscillate between 2% for properties exceeding 500 square meters of useful space and 6% for those with less than 60 meters of square footage.
- Executive tolerances: they concern small problems that emerged during construction such as in the case of irregular geometric shapes or following changes in the position of water or electricity pipes. Among other things, the Government extends tolerance to the small size of the building, to the omission of non-structural architectural elements, to irregularities in the walls, to changes in the arrangement of openings in internal environments, to modifications in works classified as ordinary maintenance and to discrepancies between design representations and actual construction due to initial evaluation errors.
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The other advantageous opportunities offered by the Save-Home Decree
Apart from the new basic tolerance levels which are applicable exclusively to projects completed by May 24th of the year 2024, as regards the other opportunities offered by the Save-Home Decree, it must be said that there are others that are very advantageous for property owners.
For example, those who started projects from the 25th of the aforementioned month can still make use of the previous regulations with a construction tolerance set at 2%.
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The introduction of new free construction activities
By free construction we mean a term that includes interventions that do not require specific authorizations, and two new typologies have been introduced in the Save-Home Decree.
- Protection works from the sun’s rays and bad weather: they include installations such as awnings and pergolas aimed at effectively shielding homes. These structures can be fixed or attached to the property, as long as they do not alter the overall volume of the building or the aesthetics.
- Removable transparent panoramic windows: permitted for balconies and terraces from 2022, these windows can now also be installed in the porticoes of buildings. However, it is essential that their installation does not lead to new volumetric additions.
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Habitable attics: the new directives
An amendment was approved in the Save-Home Decree to allow the transformation of attics into residential accommodation, even if they do not respect the minimum distances with other buildings or borders, without prejudice to the distance limitations in force at the time of its construction.
However, no changes must be made to the shape or area of the attic or perimeter walls and the maximum height of the building must be respected.
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Suitability standards for micro apartments
With the Save-Home Decree, the habitability requirements for micro apartments were confirmed, where the minimum internal height of the rooms is 2.40 metres, while the surface area must be 20 square meters for one person (28 for two individuals ).
These regulations must be satisfied both to obtain the certificate of habitability from the body responsible for issuing it and for the authorization in terms of hygienic-sanitary factors.
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Simplification of building legitimacy verification
Another important building modification proposed in the Save-Home Decree concerns the simplification of the criteria for demonstrating actual ownership of a property, a crucial aspect for any construction project and in many cases required for transactions or to access tax deductions like the Superbonus.
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Making dual compliance easier
Prior to the implementation of the Save-Home Decree, rectification of a building violation required adherence to the concept of double compliance. This meant that the construction had to comply with both the urban planning and building regulations in force and those of regularization.
With the aforementioned plan, the process has been simplified and allows minor building violations to be addressed without any particular problems, and all that is needed is to comply with the urban planning regulations in force at the time of the intervention. However, the rule persists for more serious infringements, such as carried out without a Certificate of Commencement of Works (SCIA), a building permit or those in a state of total non-compliance.
Ultimately, the objective is to remedy small non-compliances that would otherwise remain unresolved due to regulations in force at the time of construction and that of the request for regularization. In any case, this entails a fine, calculated as double the increase in the market value of the property resulting from the interventions and ranging from one thousand to thirty thousand euros.
However, public administrations are exempt from this disbursement.
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Introduction of tacit consent
Another significant aspect of the simplification of this new regularization process concerns the response time of local authorities. In fact, with the Salva-Casa Decree the silence-refusal factor can be considered null and void in favor of the so-called silence-consent.
This means that if a homeowner requests to forward the request for regularization and the competent office does not respond within the established deadlines, the practice is to be considered automatically approved. However, these times are further extended by six months for properties in which the landscape restriction applies.
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Greater flexibility in the use of buildings
Another no less important aspect of the Save-Home Decree is that with which property owners have the possibility of changing the so-called intended use of individual units, provided that this occurs without the need for building works and that the transition falls within the same category.
If the planned renovation involves different categories, it is only permitted in certain sectors such as residential, tourist, hospitality or commercial sectors and generally limited to specific contexts such as areas of historical interest.
Finally, there is a consideration to be made for units located immediately outside an embankment, where conversion to residential use is permitted only subject to compliance with the local urban plan of the city in which the house is located.
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Conclusions
The Save-Home Decree, which is about to be converted into law, can be considered a significant opportunity for all owners of properties in which there are small building irregularities. The measures that can be adopted with the aforementioned government plan make it possible to remedy minor discrepancies, increase the minimum construction limits and at the same time aim to facilitate the change of intended use, offering both legal and economic benefits.
Finally, the decree was drawn up taking into account the Green factor imposed by the European Union which requires the adoption or respect of very distinct energy parameters, in order to guarantee that all buildings are able to offer the best in terms of environmental sustainability.
In this sense, it is important to underline that in Italy, there are several million properties that require interventions with these green quality standards, and fortunately for the owners there is also the possibility of obtaining tax breaks.
