THE HOUSING SAVING DECREE ARRIVES: Benefits and Opportunities.

Yesterday, Thursday, May 30, the HOUSE SAVING DECREE (Decree No. 69/2024 "Urgent provisions on building and urban planning simplification") was published in the Official Gazette. The Decree will now go to the chambers for conversion of the text into Law.

With this Decree Law, property owners will be facilitated in the regularization of irregularities, this support reflects positively on various aspects such as an increase in the market value of homes and, as a result, greater legal security for owners, thus reducing the risk of litigation. It also greatly reduces the inability to access mortgages, or any other form of subsidy.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport stresses that this is not an amnesty, since the decree intervenes only in cases of minor severity.

The topics covered in the Decree are:

1. Interventions on minor dissimilarities
2. Free building
3. Construction tolerances
4. Executive tolerances
5. Partial dissimilarities
6. Lawful status of the property
7. Change of use

Let us briefly evaluate them, and for any specific insights, please refer to the full text.

Free Building Interventions

The Decree simplifies the installation of removable panoramic glazing (Vepa) and other sun and weather protective structures, provided they are adjacent or attached to buildings and do not create permanent enclosed spaces. These interventions will no longer require building permits, reducing bureaucracy, as long as specific technical and aesthetic criteria are met.

Construction and Executive Tolerances

The Decree introduces new tolerances for construction irregularities in both interior and exterior interventions that do not significantly alter the structure of the building, and carried out before May 24, 2024. Specifically:

• 2% for areas larger than 500 square meters.
• 3% for areas between 300 and 500 square meters.
• 4% for areas between 100 and 300 square meters.
• 5% for areas of less than 100 square meters.

With the new Decree, executive tolerances ( reduced building dimensions, failure to build nonstructural architectural elements, irregularities in exterior and interior walls, different placement of interior openings, uneven execution of routine maintenance works, corrections of design errors on the construction site, and discrepancies in the executive plans from the originals) will be able to be regularized according to a simplified procedure.

Simplified Procedures

For amnesty requests, a regime of silence-consent is introduced. Requests will be automatically accepted if the administration does not respond within a predetermined period, reducing the waiting time. Relative to time:

• 45 days for the amnesty permit.
• 30 days for the Certified Declaration of Commencement of Activity (SCIA).

For properties subject to landscape constraints, the time can extend up to 180 days.

Lawful status of the property

The decree has reduced administrative requirements: it will be sufficient to submit the title that regulated the last building intervention, even if done under amnesty. Partial non-conformities that are sanctioned will help prove the legitimate status of the property, greatly streamlining the regularization process.

Change of use

The change of use of building units has been greatly simplified and refers to the following zones: historic center, consolidated residential, expanding residential.

• Same Functional Category: change of use will always be allowed.
• Different Functional Categories: change between different categories will be allowed limited to residential, tourist accommodation, manufacturing, office or commercial categories.

In light of this new opportunity, don't waste time and regularize your Real Estate! Symphonya Luxury Real Estate and the professionals who are part of its collaborative network can offer you valuable support in managing these activities and help you sell your property.