CERTIFICATO DI DESTINAZIONE URBANISTICA NELLE COMPRAVENDITE IMMOBILIARI

Introduction

The Urban Destination Certificate (CDU) is a document issued by the technical offices of the Municipality that certifies the urban planning regulations in force at the time of issue for a certain area.

The Consolidated Building Act-D.P.R. 380/2001 provides that the CDU must be attached to the notarial deed of sale for:
- areas registered in the Land Registry
- areas pertaining to urban buildings registered in the Building Registry, with an area equal to or greater than 5000 sqm
Deeds executed in the absence of this document are null and void and cannot be either executed or recorded in the real estate registers. This obligation exists for deeds after March 17, 1985.

Urban Planning Regulations

These are the indications regarding the use that can be made of a certain land within a Municipality, based on urban planning tools, i.e., the acts that govern the territory, regulating its uses and transformations based on certain objectives. These include the Municipal Master Plan (PRG) (or PUC, Municipal Urban Plan) with its Technical Implementation Rules (NTA) and the Implementation Plans. The Master Plan is the main urban planning tool and regulates, within the territory of a Municipality, the use of areas, whether or not construction is allowed, the destination of certain areas, the permitted interventions on existing buildings, based on the analysis of the current state and some objectives set for the future. There are also plans above the municipal level (regional, provincial, ...) that set more general guidelines, which the PRG must incorporate. The PRG consists of two essential elements, maps and NTA; the latter are the rules that allow it to be implemented, specifying which building interventions are allowed and how one can intervene on areas and buildings. At a lower level than the PRG are the Implementation Plans, i.e., more specific tools that detail the general forecasts of the Master Plan for individual portions of the territory.

Contents of the Urban Destination Certificate

The CDU contains information such as cadastral data (sheet and parcel), urban destination, urban planning parameters, constraints. The cadastral data are those that allow the area to be identified in the Cadastre, which is the national system for cataloging real estate, divided into the Land Registry and the Urban Building Registry. The sheet is the portion of the municipal territory, represented on a map. The parcel, on the other hand, is the part of the sheet that represents a plot of land, a building, or land with a building, owned by the same individual or company.  

The urban destination represents the function that the PRG assigns to an area. Through a process called zoning, the municipal territory is divided into zones called homogeneous territorial zones. Each zone has uniform characteristics and in each, specific limits and ratios between different types of spaces are applied, in order to guarantee each part of the municipal territory a minimum urban provision (i.e., public spaces such as schools, parking lots, green areas, religious, health facilities, ...). Each zone is characterized by urban standards, i.e., ratios between spaces for residences or productive spaces and various types of public spaces, and building standards, i.e., limits of density, height, and distances between buildings. The homogeneous zones into which the territory of a Municipality is divided are:
1 - ZONE A-historic center = urban areas of historical, artistic, and particular environmental value
2 - ZONE B-completion = totally or partially built-up areas, different from zone A
3 - ZONE C-expansion = partially built-up areas with lower limits than zone B, intended for new settlements
4 - ZONE D-industrial = areas intended for new productive settlements
5 - ZONE E-agricultural = areas intended for agricultural use
6 - ZONE F-public services = areas intended for facilities and installations of general interest
In addition to this general subdivision, further more specific subzones may be provided.

The urban planning parameters are the set of variable quantities and the ratios between them, called indices, that are used to define the transformations of the municipal territory. The quantities are, for example, surfaces, volumes, distances, all related to building and other activities that modify land use. The best-known index is that of buildability (or constructibility), i.e., the ratio between the maximum volume that can be built on the land considered, expressed in cubic meters, and its area measured in square meters.

Finally, constraints are limitations on the free use of a privately owned area to protect a certain public interest. Therefore, they may be due to various reasons (landscape interest, hydrogeological risk, buffer zone for cemeteries, ...) and may be imposed either by the PRG for certain purposes at the municipal level or by other authorities for specific purposes. In this case, the PRG, although not having determined them, incorporates them. Some constraints, called conformative, limit to varying degrees the use that can be made of an area, up to the extreme case of absolute non-buildability. Others, defined as expropriative, are aimed at expropriation for public utility and provide compensation to the owner and a duration of 5 years, which can be renewed.

Characteristics of the Urban Destination Certificate

We emphasize that the CDU contains the regulations relating to the area concerned contained in the urban planning instruments in force, however, acts adopted but not yet in force may also coexist with them. Adoption, through a resolution, is a step in the approval process of an urban planning instrument, which ends with its entry into force. When both a current act and an adopted one are present, the so-called safeguard measures apply. These consist in the suspension of building permit applications that are in conflict with the adopted instrument for a period of 3 years (5 if, after one year from publication, it has been submitted to the authority that must approve it).

The CDU is valid for one year from the date of issue if the seller declares that no changes have occurred in the urban planning instruments. It must be verified that, for example, no amendments to the PRG, implementation plans, etc., have been approved, possibly with the assistance of a technician (architect, engineer, surveyor).

The manager or responsible person has 30 days from the submission of the application to issue it. If after this period the Municipality has not acted, the CDU can be replaced by a declaration from the seller specifying the failure to issue and the urban planning data of the area. This is, in fact, a possibility and the owner can urge the competent office to fulfill its duty.

Urban Destination Certificate and Real Estate Transactions

If a deed has been executed in the absence of the document or declaration, it can be remedied by integrating or amending it with a new one to which the CDU is attached.

The purpose of this certificate is twofold, as it serves to protect both a public and a private interest. The first consists in the orderly development of the territory. Through the request for a CDU, the Municipality is informed of negotiations relating to the land, putting it in a position to monitor compliance with urban planning instruments and to defend its decisions. In fact, in this way, the Municipality seeks to prevent the crime of illegal subdivision. The private interest, on the other hand, refers to correct and informed negotiation between the parties. In fact, the CDU allows the buyer to be informed about the characteristics of the land he is about to buy, especially regarding the possibility of building on it or not and under what conditions.

Arch. Michela Antonini - Dott. Ing. Santini Emanuele