How to divide a house into two independent units

How to divide a house into two (or more) independent units? This is the question of all those people who are about to buy a house characterised by a large size and which can therefore be divided into several parts.

Splitting a property increases its value, particularly in the urban contexts of large Italian cities, where small flats have a particularly high value.

The splitting up of a property, possibly without masonry work, becomes a great opportunity today, especially in virtue of the advantages introduced by the recent Sblocca Italia decree. Precisely because splitting has become even more an advantageous investment, many people today are wondering how to divide a flat in the best way and according to the law. Here is everything you need to know on the subject.

Splitting a flat into two units in an apartment building

The splitting of a real estate unit in the context of a condominium has become a particularly interesting and convenient investment in 2020. Let's see what are the main reasons why you decide to intervene with a real estate split:

• Property splitting by inheritance: in this case the splitting arises from the need of two or more heirs to use a part of the property, without the latter having to be sold or transferred to only one of the heirs.
• Splitting by renting a portion: in these circumstances it is decided to split a flat and its utilities for the need to rent a part of the property.
• Increase in the value of the property before selling it: the owner decides to split the property into two or more parts in order to increase its real estate value.
• Creation of an independent flat for one's own children or family: sometimes it is decided to split up a particularly large property in order to create a separate flat in the structure in which the children or family can live separately.

Procedure to be followed for the splitting up of a property

A specific procedure must be followed in order to carry out the fractionation of a property, in order to avoid the possibility of the cadastral fractionation without municipal authorisation.

The splitting procedure depends essentially on the General Regulatory Plan or PRG, the Building Regulations and finally the individual condominium regulations.

The first thing to do is to carefully check all the existing documentation available. In particular, it is advisable to check the urban-building compliance of the building and its cadastral compliance. The latter represent the most important documents from which any request for modification of a property unit must begin.

Subsequently, it is necessary to draw up and forward the CILA or SCIA declaration to the municipality in which the property is located: in a few words, it is a question of the building practices thanks to which the splitting of the property can be authorised from an administrative and urban planning point of view. In some circumstances it is also necessary to monetise the works for the construction of the appurtenant car parks, with reference to the provisions of the Tognoli Law.

The procedure then provides for the presentation of the relative cadastral update to the offices of the City Council cadastre. With the new cadastral update, the old sub-registry will be abolished and two (or more) units will be set up. In the note the residential title with which the works are carried out must be mentioned: in this way it will be possible to demonstrate the urban planning conformity.

Subsequently, it is necessary to submit an application for authorisation to the condominium to which it belongs. This authorisation is necessary to carry out all those interventions with which the modification of the common parts of a condominium is carried out.

This phase is followed by the construction of new gas and electricity connections. Finally, it is possible to proceed with the transfer of ownership: at this stage, the intervention of a notary public is only necessary in the event that the property is sold.

The condominium cannot oppose the splitting up

If the common parts of the building are not affected and modified during the splitting of a building, the condominium cannot in any way oppose such intervention, unless the splitting is expressly prohibited by the condominium regulations.

With regard to the splitting up of a building, it should always be remembered that every type of municipal authorisation is always marked "except for the rights of third parties": this means that the municipality is not liable in the event of infringement of the rights of third parties, such as neighbours or the condominium that decide to contest the authorisation.

Before splitting up a property, it is therefore advisable to ensure that there are no possible problems with the condominium. Here is our advice:

• Examine the condominium regulations carefully and check that they do not expressly prohibit the splitting up of buildings.
• Once the splitting has been carried out, it is advisable to proceed with the relative updating of the thousandths tables. If changes are made to the central heating system, it will also be necessary to recount the thousandths relating to the heating.
• If the new flat is accessed from the landing or if the common parts of the building are modified in any way, in this case a special resolution of the condominium assembly will be necessary to proceed with the split.

In general terms, in order to proceed with the split up of a building, if it does not involve the modification of common parts of the building, it is not necessary to be in possession of any resolution of the condominium administration. In order not to have problems with the condominium, it is always important not to modify the common landing when splitting up the building.

Fractionation of a property: brief jurisprudential hints

With regard to the splitting of a property and the disputes that have arisen from this intervention, it is very significant to cite an important source of jurisprudence: the Supreme Court of Cassation clarified in Judgement no. 13184 of 24-06-2016 that splitting within a private property is only possible if it does not in any way damage the common parts.

Splitting: how to create access to the new property unit

An extremely important and significant aspect in a real estate split-up is the creation of access to the newly established real estate unit. Often and willingly the creation of access to the new flat involves a structural change to the common parts of the building.

To create the new access, a new opening (door) can be made on the condominium landing. In this case it is certainly preferable that the condominium assembly authorises the intervention, since this will in a certain sense affect the architectural aspect of the condominium landing.

An alternative to create access to the new flat is the creation of a distribution compass, located inside the original flat. The owners of the new flat will have to enter the original entrance door and will be in a small space with two doors with access to the flats. With this intervention the condominium will not be able to oppose since it will not in any way affect the common parts of the building. The ownership of the distribution compass is usually attributed to both owners of the flats.

Finally, the split up flat may originally have two entrance doors. In this case, all that has to be done is to attribute the relative entrance door to each flat. In order to proceed, it will be necessary to inform the condominium administrator of the relative subdivision of the thousandths, once the work has been completed, without the need to ask for any authorisation before proceeding with the intervention.

Fractionation of a building and water drainage

Another aspect to be considered carefully regarding the splitting of a building is the position of the drains of the new bathroom and the new kitchen.

In this regard, it is important to point out that the bathroom drain has a pipe diameter of 10 cm: the distance between toilet and faecal column is therefore particularly limited.

As far as the kitchen drain is concerned, the latter is smaller than the bathroom drain and therefore less structurally binding.