Real estate, deed of surrender of ownership back on the rise again
Documentation is requested on the conformity of the asset with the regulations
Key points
A foreseeable rush to conclude deeds of renunciation of the right of ownership of real estate by 31 December 2025: this is what will predictably happen when the news that the Budget Law for 2026 'hides' (in paragraph 12 of Article 130 of the draft to be presented by the Government in Parliament) a rule that, if it remains as written in the draft, will in fact prevent the conclusion of these deeds.
United Sections
On 11 August, with the decision 23093 of the Supreme Court of Cassation in United Sections (in 'Il Sole 24 Ore' of 13 August), the legitimacy of deeds of renunciation of the right to real estate property was sanctioned, with the consequence that, under Article 827 of the Civil Code, ownership of the renounced property passes to the State.
The court of legitimacy essentially argued that the deeds of renunciation of property ownership are perfectly legitimate because, by virtue of the legislation in force (and, in particular, of Article 42 of the Constitution), it is not possible to qualify them in terms of nullity for any of the reasons with which the Agenzia del Demanio and the Ministry of the Economy had attempted to curb them: illegality of the cause, illegality of the object, illegality of the motives, fraud against the law, etc.
Not only that, the Cassazione also went so far as to indicate how these waiver deeds must be stipulated: since they are abdicative and not translative deeds, they are not subject to all the rules that instead dictate burdensome formalities for those deeds (such as purchases, sales, exchanges and donations) that have as their effect the transfer of ownership of a property: and therefore, in particular, the rules on cadastral conformity, urban planning conformity and energy performance.
The manoeuvre
It was not difficult to foresee that the Ministry of the Economy would soon run for cover. In the penultimate paragraph of an omnibus article entitled 'Norms for the revision and rationalisation of expenditure' is therefore concealed a impediment, probably insuperable, to the stipulation of waiver deeds which, if not amended, will make them de facto unworkable.
