Planning and cadastral compliance: what to check?
Planning compliance says whether the house matches the building titles under which it was built and changed (the stato legittimo); cadastral conformity says whether the floor plan matches the actual state. The notary carries out legal and register checks; the technical comparison of the house with its titles is a separate examination by a qualified technician.
What the law requires in the deed
- For a building started after 17 March 1985, the details of the building title, on pain of nullity (art. 46 D.P.R. 380/2001).
- For a building started between 1 September 1967 and 17 March 1985, the details of the building licence or concession, or of the amnesty application, on pain of nullity (art. 40 L. 47/1985).
- For a building started before 1 September 1967 a sworn substitute declaration to that effect is enough (art. 40 L. 47/1985).
- Since 1 July 2010 the cadastral identification, the reference to the filed floor plans and the declaration that data and floor plans match the actual state, which a qualified technician’s statement may replace, on pain of nullity; the notary identifies the cadastral holders and checks them against the property registers (art. 29(1-bis) L. 52/1985).
What you can do with a property also depends on other rules, such as landscape and heritage constraints and the zoning certificate (CDU). For one address, the free Dossier Immobile preview brings them together.
Why a violation can remain a problem after buying
According to the Joint Sections of the Court of Cassation the nullity is formal: if the cited title really exists and concerns the building, the contract is not void on that ground even if the house departs from it (SU 8230/2019). The judgment does not say every purchase is problem-free: the irregularity can continue to burden the property, while criminal liability for the violation does not automatically pass to the buyer.
The stato legittimo
The stato legittimo is the one established by the title that authorised the building or the last works, completed by later titles (art. 9-bis D.P.R. 380/2001). For works up to 24 May 2024 tolerances of 2 to 6% apply depending on the floor area, declared by a qualified technician (art. 34-bis); many discrepancies can be regularised (art. 36-bis), at the cost and on the timescale of the Comune.
How it is checked
A qualified technician compares the titles in the Comune’s building archive with the house and the floor plan. Many notaries advise doing this before the preliminary contract: the cadastre does not say whether a property was built lawfully.
The dossier is an automatic report: it is not written or checked by a registered professional (surveyor, architect, engineer, lawyer) and does not replace checks by a qualified technician or the Comune.
Does the cadastral visura prove the house is in order?
No. The cadastre serves tax purposes and describes the property; building regularity is shown by the Comune’s titles.
Who pays to regularise?
The parties decide: it is best written into the offer, as a condition or in a price that reflects it.
Sources
- D.P.R. 380/2001, art. 46
- D.P.R. 380/2001, art. 9-bis (stato legittimo)
- D.P.R. 380/2001, art. 34-bis (tolerances)
- D.P.R. 380/2001, art. 36-bis
- L. 47/1985, art. 40
- L. 52/1985, art. 29
- EcNews: Joint Sections 8230/2019
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