Salva Casa Puglia: What Every Foreign Buyer Must Check Before Signing

Eight out of ten existing properties I help foreign clients evaluate have at least one undeclared modification. A terrace that was glazed in 1998. An extension a previous owner added "in good faith". A pool dug in 2007 that does not appear on the cadastral records. Until July 2024 these were quiet problems that surfaced uncomfortably during due diligence - sometimes at the notary's table, occasionally after the deed was signed. Now, under the Salva Casa decree, most of them can be regularised. This is the guide to Salva Casa Puglia that I wish every UK, German, French, Dutch and American buyer read before they made an offer.

I am Silvia. I am Italian, I grew up in Puglia, and together with my husband Giampiero we founded Borgomadre - a small advisory that helps foreign families build or buy a villa here, working with my father Francesco's practice, Studio Pagliara. Francesco is an engineer and architect on the Italian Albo with more than thirty years of work across this region. A Salva Casa check is now one of the most important pieces of due diligence we run on every existing-property purchase. Here is why.

Written with Francesco Pagliara, Studio Pagliara - engineer and architect on the Italian Albo. The technical assessment a Salva Casa file needs can only be signed by an Albo professional, which is exactly where his thirty years in this region matter.

If you are still weighing whether to build from raw land or buy an existing villa, start with our companion piece, why you should build your dream villa instead of buying in Puglia, and come back here when you are seriously looking at existing properties.

What Salva Casa Puglia actually is

The Salva Casa decree is a national Italian law - Decree-Law 69/2024, converted into Law 105/2024, in force since 28 July 2024. It does one thing very well: it opens a legal pathway to retroactively regularise minor building irregularities that, until then, sat in a legal grey zone - neither fully approved nor genuinely abusive, but expensive to clear before a sale. It is a permanent change to Italy's building code, not a temporary amnesty, and it applies only to work already carried out (broadly, before 24 May 2024). It also widened the margin of tolerated dimensional deviation - up to 6% for the smallest units (those at or under 60 square metres), tapering down for larger ones.

For a foreigner buying a Puglia property, this matters because the Italian catasto (land registry) and the Comune (municipality) keep separate records of what was officially permitted. When they disagree - a glazed terrace visible on satellite imagery but absent from the planning file, a pool on Google Maps but not on the cadastral plan - your future buyer's bank, your insurer, and ultimately your notary will all notice. A Salva Casa check before you make an offer tells you whether the property has issues, whether those issues are solvable, and roughly what they will cost to clear.

Two things to underline. First: Salva Casa does not legalise everything. Modifications that violate landscape constraints (vincoli paesaggistici) on protected land are usually outside its scope, and structurally unsafe works cannot be saved. Second: regularisation has a cost - the application fees, the technical work, and a sanzione (sanction) calculated by the Comune. Knowing that number before signing changes the negotiation completely.

What we actually find in Puglia properties

Puglia's housing stock skews old. Many masserie, trulli, country houses and seaside villas were built or extended over generations, often before today's planning rules existed and frequently with paperwork that did not follow the work. When we run a Salva Casa pre-purchase check, the recurring patterns are these:

• Glazed-in terraces (verandas). A loggia or terrace originally open to the air, later closed with glass or aluminium. Probably the single most common irregularity in coastal Puglia. Often regularisable if the volumetric change is minor and respects setbacks.

• Undeclared extensions. A "small" utility room, guest bedroom or enlarged kitchen, added without a permit because the previous owner thought it was too small to matter. Italy disagrees.

• Roof mismatches. Slopes, heights or shapes that do not match the cadastral drawings - often a 1990s rebuild after storm damage, never properly filed.

• Undeclared pools. A pool dug in the late 1990s or early 2000s without a permit. Salva Casa can sometimes cover this; sometimes a separate landscape authorisation is also required.

• Undeclared cisterns and wells. Common inland. Less a regularisation problem than a documentation gap to close before a sale.

• Internal layout changes. Walls moved, rooms reconfigured, bathrooms added without a CILA filing at the time. Usually the easiest category to regularise.

Almost every existing Puglia property we examine has at least one of these. That is not unusual; that is the regional baseline. The question is never "is anything irregular?" - it is "what exactly, and what does it cost to fix?"

The Salva Casa Puglia regularisation process, step by step

A Salva Casa file moves through five stages.

1. Identify the irregularity. A desk comparison first: the cadastral plan, the Comune's planning archive, satellite imagery, and the property's actual current state. We almost always add a site visit - the file rarely tells the whole story.

2. Technical assessment by an Albo professional. An engineer or architect on the Italian Albo must produce a sworn technical opinion (asseverazione) describing the irregularity, its construction date where ascertainable, and the category it falls into. This is non-negotiable - the Comune will not accept a file signed by an unqualified party.

3. Category determination. Light cases (minor internal layout changes) follow the CILA in sanatoria route. Medium cases (modest volumetric changes within permissible parameters) go through SCIA in sanatoria. Heavier cases that genuinely correspond to a Permesso di Costruire-grade intervention require a Permesso di Costruire in sanatoria with fuller documentation.

4. Application and fees. The file goes to the Comune's urbanistica office with the calculated sanzione. The fine is a function of the irregularity's size, its date, and the Comune's parameters - there is no single national number.

5. Outcome. The Comune issues a confirming act, requests integration, or - in clear-cut cases - refuses, in which case demolition or partial restoration may be the only path.

Realistic cost ranges (2026), for typical Puglia cases. A light CILA in sanatoria for an internal layout change runs roughly EUR 1,500 to 3,000 all-in (technical fees plus Comune fine). A SCIA in sanatoria for a glazed terrace or modest extension typically lands in the EUR 4,000 to 10,000 band. A heavier Permesso di Costruire in sanatoria for an undeclared pool or significant extension can reach EUR 10,000 to 25,000 or more. These are guide ranges from real recent files; your number depends on the Comune, the volume, and the date. Anyone who quotes a flat figure without seeing the file is guessing.

What this means for your due diligence

Here is where this guide becomes commercially useful.

Who pays? By Italian custom the seller is responsible for delivering a property that matches its cadastral and planning records. In practice - especially when the seller is unaware of an irregularity until you flag it - this is a negotiating point, not an automatic adjustment. We have seen all three outcomes: the seller absorbs the cost, the price is reduced, or the parties split it. What rarely works for the buyer is not raising it - once the deed is signed, the problem is yours.

The leverage. A documented Salva Casa estimate from an Albo professional, delivered before the preliminare (preliminary contract), is the strongest instrument a foreign buyer has. It moves the conversation from "there might be a problem" to "this is the file, this is the cost, this is who fixes it". On a EUR 450,000 property with EUR 15,000 of regularisation work, that is a 3.3% adjustment - real money, properly justified.

When to walk away. If the irregularity violates vincoli paesaggistici on protected land, or the building sits where it should never have been built (a protected coastal strip, an archaeological zone, a hydrogeologically constrained slope), Salva Casa usually cannot save it. We have advised buyers to walk away from three properties in the last eighteen months for exactly this reason. The property may be beautiful; the legal exposure is not.

The notary's role. The Italian notaio checks the cadastral and planning records before the rogito (final deed) and must flag inconsistencies. But the notaio is not a forensic surveyor - they confirm the paperwork is internally consistent, not that it matches the building. That last verification is yours to run, with a qualified technician, before the notaio sees the file.

When Salva Casa does NOT solve the problem

It would be irresponsible to suggest everything is regularisable. It is not.

• Landscape-constraint violations on the original build. If the building sits inside a protected landscape zone and was erected without the required autorizzazione paesaggistica, Salva Casa usually does not retroactively grant it. A separate landscape regularisation is sometimes possible, but the standard is strict and approval is far from guaranteed.

• Protected areas - coastal strips, archaeological zones, parks. A building inside a strict protection perimeter (the 300-metre coastal demanio strip, an archaeological constraint, a park core) may be undemolishable in fact but unsaleable in title. We approach these with extreme caution.

• Structurally non-compliant work. A self-built extension without proper foundations, an extra storey added without the structural calculations a permit would have required - these cannot be saved with paperwork. The only paths are partial demolition or reconstruction.

• Heritage-listed properties. Trulli and masserie under conservation protection, or historic-centre buildings, face a separate, stricter layer (the Soprintendenza), and Salva Casa does not override it.

When a file falls into one of these categories, the right advice is sometimes "do not pursue regularisation" - a failed application creates a documented refusal on the Comune's record, which is worse than none.

How Borgomadre helps

We do not sell legalisations. We help foreign buyers understand a property's regulatory exposure before they commit. Our pre-purchase Salva Casa check is delivered by Studio Pagliara - engineer and architect on the Italian Albo, insured for professional liability - and includes the planning-archive review, the site visit, a written technical opinion identifying any irregularities, and a cost-to-clear estimate. If you proceed, the same file becomes the basis for the regularisation work. If you walk away, you have saved yourself a far larger problem. It is the same approach we bring to a ground-up build: know the constraints before you commit.

If you are seriously evaluating an existing property and want a Salva Casa Puglia assessment before you sign anything, our Build your villa / RE services page outlines how Phase 1 works, and you can reach me through our contacts page. Even a thirty-minute call before you make an offer can save you months later - or message me directly on WhatsApp.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Salva Casa decree and does it apply to Puglia?

The Salva Casa decree is Decree-Law 69/2024, converted into Law 105/2024 and in force since 28 July 2024. It opens a legal pathway to retroactively regularise minor building irregularities - glazed terraces, modest extensions, internal layout changes - that previously sat in a legal grey zone. It applies nationally, including across all 257 Puglia Comuni. Municipal implementation details vary, which is why a Puglia-specific technical review matters.

As a foreign buyer, do I really need a Salva Casa check before buying an existing property?

Yes. In our experience eight out of ten existing Puglia properties have at least one undeclared modification. A pre-purchase Salva Casa check by an Albo-registered engineer or architect tells you the regulatory exposure before you commit. It is the single most cost-effective piece of due diligence a foreign buyer can run. Skip it and you inherit whoever-built-it's regulatory problem.

How much does a Salva Casa regularisation cost in Puglia in 2026?

It depends on the category. A light CILA in sanatoria for internal layout changes runs roughly EUR 1,500 to 3,000 all-in. A SCIA in sanatoria for a glazed terrace or modest extension typically falls in the EUR 4,000 to 10,000 range. A heavier Permesso di Costruire in sanatoria for an undeclared pool or significant extension can reach EUR 10,000 to 25,000 or more. The cost combines technical fees and the Comune's calculated sanzione.

Who is responsible for fixing irregularities - the seller or the buyer?

By custom the seller is responsible for delivering a property that matches its cadastral and planning records, but in practice it becomes a negotiation. A documented Salva Casa cost estimate before the preliminary contract is the foreign buyer's strongest instrument: the seller absorbs the cost, the price is reduced, or the parties split it. The worst outcome for the buyer is not raising it at all.

Can every irregularity be regularised under Salva Casa?

No. Buildings that violate landscape constraints (vincoli paesaggistici) on protected land, structures inside coastal protection strips or archaeological zones, structurally non-compliant work, and certain heritage-listed properties typically cannot be saved through Salva Casa. In those cases partial demolition or restoration is sometimes the only path - and occasionally the property is simply not the right purchase.

Does the notary check for irregularities at the final deed?

The Italian notaio checks that cadastral and planning records are internally consistent and will flag obvious discrepancies. But the notaio is not a forensic surveyor - they confirm the paperwork, not that the paperwork matches the actual building. That on-site verification is the buyer's responsibility and should be done by an Albo-registered engineer or architect before the notaio sees the file.