The hard line of the Supreme Court: from now on the judges can also confiscate other assets of the owners involved in Superbonus scams. Huge risks for condominiums.
Almost six years after the launch of Super bonusthe symbolic measure of the government of Giuseppe Conte continue presenting the bill. Not only to the State, which according to the latest data has already borne a burden close to 131 billion eurosbut also to the courts, the real estate market and individual owners.
The most delicate point, they explain Fabrizio Stella And Federico Triulzi of the law firm SCA & Partners Sta, is that the problem no longer concerns only false credit or rigged jobs: if the fraud is considered a scam against the State, the judges can also block or confiscate other houses or assets of the person involved, even if they have nothing to do directly with those jobs, to recover the money they believe was stolen.
The grip of the Supreme Court and the financial impact
This is the novelty that makes the queue even heavier Super bonus. For months the jurisprudence was divided between two hypotheses: on the one hand the undue receipt of public funds, on the other the aggravated fraud. But now the Cassation has chosen the most severe line, with effects that can extend far beyond the single non-existent credit.
In practice, observe Stella and Triulzi, not only the criminal qualification changes: above all the financial impact changes, because it becomes easier for judges to attack other assets of the suspect. And this is where the Super bonus it stops being just a public finance issue and becomes a real problem for families and owners. The public cost of the measure, moreover, is already enormous in itself. The Super bonus has generated investments eligible for deduction for over 124.8 billionwith a weight on public accounts now at around 131 billion.
The chapter on fraud and late checks
Added to this is the chapter of fraud: the Financial police has already ascertained 9.3 billion in fake creditsa figure that gives a measure of how much the system, especially in its initial phase, was exposed to abuse. At the beginning, the two professionals recall, the controls were very weak: it was enough to present documentation, declare work included in the subsidy, immediately transfer the credits and monetize them. Only later did certifications, checks and strict regulations arrive. But in the meantime the mechanism had already put billions into circulation.
The problem is that the damage does not end with pure fraud, a ghost construction site or a false invoice. There is a much wider range of borderline or irregular situations which today risk turning into litigation. There are condominiums that have carried out works with discount on invoice and who, if the credit is canceled due to defects in the procedure or in the certifications, may find themselves having to pay in full for works that they thought were covered by the bonus, with the additional burden of interest and disputes. There are works carried out with materials other than those requested, perhaps in a phase in which everything was missing on the market and companies made do as they could, without however the law really allowing exceptions. And there are cases where the double jump in energy classdeclared on paper, risks not standing up to more careful checks.
Effects on the real estate market and original defects
From here another serious economic effect arises: properties that seem to be valued by Super bonus they may actually bring with them an original vice. The owner who sells convinced that he has an energy-improved apartment could find himself exposed to disputes if that energy class is not real or if the intervention was not compliant. It is no coincidence, explain Stella and Triulzi, that more and more attention is now paid to the presence of works in sales deeds Super bonus and professionals recommend specific buyer protection clauses. It is a sign that the real estate market understood before anyone else that the risk did not end with the closure of the construction sites.
Even more insidious is the issue of the circulation of credits deriving from crime. For years these credits have traveled along a very wide chain, changing hands several times. And when, after some time, the investigations go back to the original construction site and discover that the work was false or irregular, the problem is transmitted along the entire chain. The case Brescia footballwith the credits found to be non-existent and the resulting sporting consequences, was the best-known symbol of this domino effect. But outside the sporting spotlight, the mechanism concerns companies, professionals, owners and condominiums who may find themselves involved years later.
Even those who have not organized fraud can end up in trouble: credits may appear in their tax drawer for irregular or never done work, and then it will be up to them to prove they had nothing to do with it. The legacy of Super bonus it’s not just the hole in the public accounts: 131 billion of cost, 9.3 billion of verified false credits, owners under verification, condominiums exposed to restitutions and even the risk of seizures on assets unrelated to the fraud. The bonus that was supposed to help families thus risks being presented with the bill years later.
