Services · Building compliance
Unauthorised works and regularisation
An unauthorised work on an Italian property is identified only by comparing the building as it stands against the drawings the comune holds on file. I retrieve those drawings, survey what actually exists, classify every discrepancy, and set out in writing which routes the law provides and which discrepancies have no route at all.
The problem
What a difformità edilizia is
A difformità edilizia is the gap between an Italian property as it has actually been built and the same property as it appears in the permits deposited with the comune, the municipal authority. Italian law does not treat every gap alike. It separates discrepancies that affect only the paperwork from discrepancies that change volume, floor area, external shape, height or the permitted use of the building.
The distinction decides the route. A paperwork discrepancy is normally corrected by updating the building file and the cadastral plan. A discrepancy that changes the substance of the building puts its lawfulness in question, and any regularisation runs through procedures that test the work against the planning rules, with different tests depending on the type of discrepancy and the period in which the work was carried out.
Discrepancies almost always surface at one of two moments: the sale, or an application for a tax relief on building works. The Italian deed of sale must state the reference of the building permit, and the seller declares that the property corresponds to it. The notary records that the declaration has been made; the notary does not establish that it is true. Tax reliefs on building work likewise assume a property that matches its own permit.
Some situations can be regularised and some cannot, and it is not the engineer who decides which is which. It is decided by the rules in force, by the comune's own planning instrument, and by what the comune still holds in its archive. That is why this work begins in the municipal file room and not on site.
Vocabulary
The Italian terms you will meet in the file
Six terms recur in every case of this kind. You will hear them from the agent, from the notary and from the comune, and they are worth reading before the first meeting rather than during it.
- Difformità formale
- A discrepancy that leaves volume, external shape, floor area and permitted use unchanged but leaves the deposited drawings out of step with the building. It is normally addressed by updating the building file and the cadastral plan.
- Difformità essenziale
- A discrepancy that changes the substance of the work — volume, floor area, shape, height, permitted use — and not merely the drawing of it. The question here is not whether a drawing can be corrected, but whether the work can be made lawful at all.
- Variazione essenziale
- A category set by national law and defined in detail by each region. It captures departures from the approved design too significant to be handled as minor variants: a change of permitted use, a material increase in volume or floor area, a substantial change to heights or to distances from boundaries.
- Tolleranza costruttiva
- A dimensional deviation within the percentage limits fixed by statute, which does not count as a breach and requires no regularisation. The engineer records it in the documentation. It is not a quiet form of amnesty: it never covers extra volume or a use other than the one permitted.
- Stato legittimo dell'immobile
- The lawful state of the property: the condition established by the permit that authorised the building and by the later permits that altered it. For very old buildings, where no permit was required, it is reconstructed from the alternative evidence the law admits. This is the statement now asked for on sale and on filing.
- Accesso agli atti
- The formal application by which a person with standing obtains copies of the deposited permits and drawings from the comune. Without the file there is no benchmark, and any view on the property remains an opinion rather than a finding.
Method
How I work through it, step by step
Six steps, in this order. The first five exist so that you know where you stand. The sixth opens only if you decide to go ahead.
Application for the municipal file
I apply to the comune and retrieve the building permits, the approved drawings and every later filing. From these I reconstruct the building history of the property, and I check the cadastral plan against them. If the archive turns out to be incomplete I tell you straight away: that is a finding about your property, not an administrative detail.
Survey of the state as built
I survey the property as it stands today: internal layout, floor areas, heights, openings, ancillary volumes and the actual use of each room. The survey is non-destructive and covers accessible areas only.
Comparison and classification
I overlay the surveyed state on the approved drawings and isolate every discrepancy, one at a time. Each is then classified: a tolleranza costruttiva, a paperwork discrepancy, or a discrepancy affecting the substance of the building. This classification governs everything that follows.
Assessment of the routes available
For each discrepancy I set out the procedures the law provides in principle and the consequences of each: cost, time, effect on a sale, effect on eligibility for tax relief. Some discrepancies have no route, and where that is the case I write it down. The choice between the options is yours, because the property is yours. I document the decision; I do not take it for you.
A written report
You receive a written report containing the permits retrieved, the survey, the classified list of discrepancies and the options with their consequences. It is written to be handed to your notary, your lawyer or the other side in a negotiation.
Preparation and filing, if instructed
If you instruct me, I prepare the chosen filing, lodge it with the comune, handle any requests for further material and keep you informed at each step. A written fee estimate comes first, and this stage is separate from the ones before it and is instructed on its own.
No engineer can promise that a discrepancy will be regularised
No technician can promise the outcome of a sanatoria — the Italian procedure for regularising unauthorised building work after the event. The decision belongs to the comune and follows the rules in force, the local planning instrument and what the file actually shows. Ivan Nozzi is an Ingegnere — an engineer qualified and registered in Italy, with the Ordine degli Ingegneri della Provincia di Chieti, no. 2489, Section A, civil and environmental — practising only in Italy under Italian law. I will tell you what exists, how it classifies, and which procedures the law provides. I will not tell you in advance how it ends, and I certify nothing before I have checked it. Treat a promised outcome as a reason for caution.
How I workBuying
Buying a property that already has a discrepancy
Buying an Italian property that already carries a discrepancy is perfectly possible, but the discrepancy has to be resolved or priced before the compromesso, not after it. The compromesso is the preliminary contract, and it is not the English exchange of contracts at the end of a survey period. It binds you from the day you sign, the deposit is at risk, and the seller can go to court to compel completion. Your leverage exists before that signature and, in practice, not after it.
Before signing, the levers are concrete. A price reduction equal to the estimated cost of regularisation, with a margin for uncertainty. A condition precedent tied to the outcome of the filing at the comune. A written undertaking that the seller starts and completes the regularisation at his own cost before the deed, by a stated date. A retention of part of the price until the filing is lodged. Which of these fits depends on the size of the discrepancy and on how predictable its treatment is.
What does not work is signing now and dealing with it later. After the deed the problem is yours, along with the cost, the waiting and the possibility that the property cannot be resold on the terms you had assumed. A technical check before the offer costs a fraction of that difference. Write to me in English or German if that is easier: an enquiry in either is read and answered. The report itself is drawn up in Italian, the language that carries legal effect here, and meetings are held in Italian, so allow for someone to interpret — your agent, a person you bring, or one I can suggest locally.
Frequently asked
Questions buyers and owners ask about sanatoria
What does stato legittimo mean, and why is it asked for?
Stato legittimo is the lawful state of an Italian property: the condition established by the permit that authorised the building and by every later permit that altered it. It is asked for because it is the benchmark against which any discrepancy is measured, both on a sale and on a new filing. Establishing it requires the permits held by the comune. A cadastral plan does not prove it, because the catasto exists for tax purposes and confers no planning lawfulness.
Does the notary check that the building matches its permits?
The notary checks that the deed states the reference of the building permit and takes the seller's declaration that the property conforms to it. As a rule the notary does not measure the building, does not apply for the municipal file and does not compare the approved drawings with what stands on site. That comparison is engineering work, and in most Italian purchases nobody carries it out until it is too late to renegotiate.
Can every unauthorised work be regularised?
No. Some discrepancies have a route and some have none. The difference is set by the planning rules in force, by the comune's planning instrument and by what the archive still holds. Anyone who answers this question before reading the file is guessing. My report states, discrepancy by discrepancy, which procedures exist in principle and for which discrepancies I found no route on the documents available.
I have been told the discrepancy is minor. How do I test that?
Ask which category it falls into and which document that category rests on. A tolleranza costruttiva, a paperwork discrepancy and a discrepancy affecting volume or permitted use carry very different consequences, and only the first requires no regularisation at all. The answer should point to the approved drawing and to the measured state. If nobody has retrieved the file from the comune, the classification has not yet been made.
I live abroad. Can the assessment start before I travel to Italy?
Yes. The application for the municipal file and the reconstruction of the building history start from a written authority and need no attendance from you. Physical access is required only for the survey, which the seller or the agent normally arranges. Write to me in English or German and you will get an answer; the written report itself reaches you by email in Italian, the language that carries legal effect here. Meetings are held in Italian, so allow for someone to interpret — your agent, a person you bring, or one I can suggest locally.
Next step
Describe the property and I will tell you where the check starts
Ivan Nozzi is an Ingegnere — an engineer qualified and registered in Italy — practising in Torrevecchia Teatina (CH), Abruzzo, and registered with the Ordine degli Ingegneri della Provincia di Chieti, no. 2489, Section A, civil and environmental. Send the address, the comune and what you have been told so far. I will tell you which documents are needed and send a written fee estimate before any engagement.