New rules for tacit consent in building procedures: what changes

Silence assent easier in administrative procedures and, in particular, in building procedures. The law converting the Pnrr decree (Decree Law 19/2026), on which the government has placed confidence in the Chamber of Deputies, paves the way for proving that, once the legal deadlines have expired, the citizen's request has been approved, despite the inertia of the PA. It lays down several important stakes: once the silence of consent has been formed, the administration will have to transmit automatically (and no longer only at the request of a party, as is the case today) a certificate on the expiry of the time limits. It must then complete this fulfilment within ten days. And, in the event of further inertia, a certificate from an authorised planner, certifying the formation of silence, may always come to the rescue of private individuals.

The amendment inserted in the Pnrr decree aims to solve a very frequent problem in the field of silenzio assenso: once the deadlines for the municipality's reply have expired, in the field of construction, it happens that the citizen finds himself in uncertainty. It is, in fact, difficult for him to prove that his application has been granted, despite the PA's inertia. To facilitate this proof and make the institute of silence of assent effective, then, a series ofinstruments that already exist in our system, albeit with various differences, between Law 241/1990 (on administrative procedures) and Presidential Decree 380/2001 (the Consolidated Law on Construction) are put into system, improving them, integrating them and extending their range of action.

The result is that, after the entry into force of the law converting the Pnrr decree, a scheme of greater guarantee for citizens will apply to all procedures. The administration, once the time limits have expired, will be obliged to send ex officio (and not only at the request of a party, as is already the case today) a certificate on the acceptance of the citizen's application "to the certified or ordinary e-mail address indicated in the application". This automatic dispatch must take place within ten days from the date of formation of the silence of assent.

But what happens if the Municipality, as part of a building procedure, does not fulfil this obligation and remains further inert? "According to the Pnrr decree, 'once the deadline has expired to no avail', the local authority's certificate will be replaced by a declaration by the private party, but above all - and this is one of the key novations approved by the Chamber of Deputies - it may also be replaced by a declaration by a qualified planner who, in a form of subrogation of professionals, will supplement the administration's failures, explaining that the legal deadline has expired and that the request has, in fact, been granted.

There remains, at this point, the possibility for the administration to act only in autotutela, to annul a silence of assent that it considers illegitimate. Even if, on this point, the Council of State has given indications that tend to severely limit the cases in which the PA can activate this way out (see "Il Sole 24 Ore" of 12 March).