More guarantees in Italy for buyers of ...

Transparency of information and adaptation to European standards also mean, for the Italian real estate system, guarantees for property buyers and quality of businesses. The members of ASPESI, the National Association of Real Estate Promotion and Development Companies chaired by Sestilio Paletti, discussed these closely related topics yesterday in Milan.
Also taking part in the debate were Claudio De Albertis and Gianfranco Pavan (President and Vice President of ANCE respectively), Mauro Danielli and Giuseppe Campisciano (President and Vice President of FIMAA-Milan), Domenico Storchi (President of the Board of Arbitrators of FIMAA-Milan), Bruna Belloni Bressan (National President of AICI, Italian Association of Real Estate Consultants and Managers), Giorgio Viganò (President of FIABCI Italia and member of the Milan Chamber of Commerce Council), Silvio Rezzonico (President of Confappi) and Franco Dal Mas (President of the Surveyors' College of Milan).
«The Italian real estate world has already evolved significantly in recent years, and even international investors and operators are now approaching our market with increased confidence» observed Paletti. «But on the user front there is still a lot to do. We must therefore take the issue of 'guarantees' into maximum account and begin to work together on this, also due to the existence in Parliament of various bills, presented by the various political forces, all aimed at protecting the assets of buyers of properties to be built or under construction".
Furthermore, the Tuscany Region and the Piedmont Region have also already expressed their desire to legislate on these important and delicate aspects.
The 'there' to the need for greater protection derives from recent news events. According to CONAFI - National Coordination of Victims Committees of Real Estate Bankruptcies - there are many tens of thousands of families who have found themselves facing, without hope of recovering the money already paid, the bankruptcy of various structures in the construction sector. But the legislative projects presented, and mostly inspired by models from other European countries, have - according to the President of ASPESI - potentially negative contents for the economic structure of companies that sell real estate units to be built or under construction.
The legislative approach adopted so far, especially regarding sureties, has also been criticized by De Albertis. While sharing the need for protection and quality for buyers (ANCE has long been involved with the 'casadoc' project on this issue), the builders' association has set up a working group together with ANIA, ABI and CONAFI - ASSOCOND, to find, alongside the legislator, less punitive technical solutions for businesses. «This action must be supported by alternative proposals, with guarantee formulas compatible with the economics of the sector» said Paletti «but also responding to a need now felt in the market and not only shared by political forces and the government».
On the topic of consumer protection, FIMAA-Mi has recently launched a formula aimed at guaranteeing buyers the deposit paid to the agency at the time of the purchase proposal. It was called 'Safe Purchase' and is enjoying great success - Storchi confirmed. On the topic of quality, it is necessary for real estate operators to increasingly equip themselves with a 'Business Quality Manual' to then arrive, if they deem it appropriate, at a real Certification.
«A self-regulation system, until legislative measures are introduced, cannot be considered mandatory for individual real estate companies: those who have their own company history and their own notoriety feel some discomfort at the idea of ​​having to guarantee their work with complex and onerous methods» observed Paletti.
«But guarantee and quality formulas must be studied and recommended, to overcome the resistance and difficulties that innovations often entail, and obtain the widest possible consensus».
The President of ASPESI closed the debate with a strong appeal to its members (the real center of gravity of the entire real estate production and commercial cycle) and to the associated associations, to ensure that the initiatives already underway, or under study, are coordinated between them "so that we can present to the market, also with a collective information campaign, a 'package of guarantees' that offers the most reassuring image possible of the entire real estate sector".

source: Real Estate Observatory