Internal modifications to houses made by moving partitions, creating plasterboard walls, building mezzanines, enlarging windows, closing balconies with verandas. In short, small variations “which do not affect the structure of a building or its essential characteristics”, they explain to Ministry of Infrastructure. For this reason, they add, «It is absolutely not a building amnesty, but a measure to regularize small discrepancies and irregularities that affect, according to a study by the National Council of Engineers, almost 80% of the real estate assets».
Why a law decree
To the ministry led by Matteo Salvini thus they put their hands ahead of the criticisms of the oppositions who talk about amnesty and, after months of work (the leader of the League announced the “save home” plan in September) and numerous meetings with the representatives of local authorities, trade associations and of the professional orders, are determined to bring the law decree with the amnesty rules Wednesday. A decree because the measure, according to Minister Salvini, is urgent. Not so much, as the opposition accuses, because the European elections are close and the amnesty would potentially affect millions of homesbut because, the supporters of the decree reply, these are rules requested by the local authorities themselves to dispose of a load of pending cases of over 4 million.
Double conformity
Practices which, moreover, often prevent the sale of properties. This is the case, Salvini himself has said several times, of the “double conformity” required by current regulations: that is, a building intervention can only be remedied if it complies with both the laws in force when it was carried out and those currently in force. This is a condition that often cannot be respected due to the numerous regulatory changes that have occurred and which, in itself, blocks the possibility of selling the property.
The qualification
To argue that the decree law will not open the doors to a new building amnesty, those who are developing the rules underline that it will not be possible to remedy an abuse that is based on the lack of the qualification, permit or license. The “construction tolerances” and the “partial discrepancies” will be remediable within deviations from the authorized parameters “of such a limited extent that they cannot be considered a construction offense”, they say. Following the same logic, they can implement «interventions that are not excessively heavy and impactful, which do not require any qualification, such as outdoor awnings”. The same goes for small construction differences compared to the project, such as “the smaller size of the building or the failure to create non-structural architectural elements”, as long as they do not compromise the stability of the construction. For partial discrepancies, “for example windows or balconies, in particular concerning buildings built before the end of the seventies, regularization with a simple sanction is envisaged”. Changes of destination
Avoid new amnesties
Obviously all these reassurances on the limited scope of the provision will have to be verified when the text is released by the Council of Ministers. Even more so in the same majority, for example by Forza Italia, several warnings were issued to Salvini to avoid new amnesties. The provision should also include the possibility of resolving changes in intended use as long as they are “between homogeneous categories” and a “save-Milan” rule to avoid problems for some skyscrapers. Urban regeneration
Six other urban planning proposals
The Salvini’s law decreeonce it has been approved in Cdm, will arrive in Parliament where there are already six legislative proposals under discussion on “urban regeneration” presented by Forza Italia (two proposals), Lega (one), Pd (two proposals), Movimento 5 Stelle (one). In particular, the leader of the Azzurri, Antonio Tajani, claims the primogeniture of attention to the topic through the proposal already presented in the previous legislature (first signatory Maurizio Gasparri) which however, apart from the rule on the simplification of changes of intended use, it has very little in common with Salvini’s design. But it is clear that, a few weeks after the vote, the race, in the majority, is to decide on a measure considered very popular.
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