��������

Well said John, I hadn't realised it, but, that is the question I have been asking for over a year now...
My tale of woe, Using an "agent" appointed to me by an "agency" based in England, who made a hefty charge for the privilege of having local professional assistance. I was asked by this agent what my plans were for the house, We were lucky in that the house was in pretty good condition, movable into, only decoration, but we had plans for developing an apartment using the ground floor, so, we explained our plans and the agent asked if we'd wish plans drawn up, I asked for a scale plan of the property which I could use to sketch out my ideas, this was provided immediately, I used it to draw out an accurate plan of the layout and sent it to the agent, who then had it re drawn, by a "friend of his", my wife and I knocked the idea about a bit before coming over, made a couple of changes, then, after we arrived, and before final purchase asked the agent to get us some idea of costs for the conversion, naturally, these never materialised, his "friend however, did arrive to check out some measurements and to check on size of walls to be demolished etc., I became a bit (VERY) concerned at this time as it seemed that no one cared about our request for costs, they eventually, after several months produced a schedule of works which I was expected to sign, although they were unable to guarantee ANY of the costs detailed, nor had any builders visited to estimate the work, the costings were based on figures from "the book" and builders would work "around" them, I was told, when I asked for reasonable, FIRM prices for the work, I was told these would not be supplied and I should just agree to the work being done and let the "agent" deal with the financial side, presenting me with a bill at the end of the work.
At this stage, I dimissed them as I was disgusted at their apparent lack of interest in my views. I later was presented a bill from the Geometra for work undertaken, amounting to a couple of thousand Euro, reduced to over a thousand euro, which still contained a cost element built in by the "agent" and then, when I asked the GB agency to whom I had already paid around 5000 euro for services for assistance, I was informed that as far as they were concerned, I had hired a Geometra, so should negotiate his price to an acceptable level... Happy Daze... :rolleyes:

The question here is whether you would be granted the relevant permissions or concessioni edilizie (“permessi di costruire”) without entering into an agreement or contract.

First, the concessione (permisson to build) is issued by the comune in accordance with the provisions as set out by law which says that….”il permeso di costruire e' rilasciato dal dirigente o responsabile del competente ufficio tecnico comunale nel rispetto delle leggi, dei regolamenti e degli strumenti urbanistici”. In other words, only authorised comune officials can issue this permission.

Second, the Director of Works is fully responsible for site safety as well as managing the entire building/renovation project.

With regards to who does what…this is how it works according to the regulations: To submit an application for a permesso di costruire or a DIA you need the signature (this is compulsory) of a tecnico abilitato (architect or civil engineer for complex or large jobs and a Geometra or Perito Edile for smaller, less complex jobs – this is what the law says).

Obviously, before appointing the tecnico (even verbally) it would be wise to establish fees and contractual conditions beforehand. If you are still in doubt you could draw up a written agreement with the following limitation clause:

“limitatamente alla fase di ottenimento della Concessione o Permesso di Costruire” and..“l'importo della prestazione limitatamente a quella fase”

In other words that the agreement is limited to the obtaining of building permissions only and that the compensation agreed is limited to that phase.

A competent and reputable tecnico would neither consider this derisory nor object to providing you with a breakdown of services and associated fees. On the other hand, I would avoid dealing with anyone unwilling to agree to this or to having a limitation clause.

If an application for permission to build has already been made on your behalf without the existence of a written agreement between you and the tecnico, he/she is at a disadvantage because there is no guarantee that they would be given the rest of the work. In fact, you have no legal obligation to award the impending contract, the only exception being that you would have to pay for services already rendered.

Your concessione or DIA would still remain valid and intact. The only proviso is that you must advise the comune of a change in Director of Works and then appoint someone else.

Hope this clarifies the matter.