The law completes the range of measures introduced to protect the purchaser by extending to the purchaser the right to parcel out the loan and the mortgage on the building being built, and the prohibition on selling before the division of the loan into quotas, or before discharge of the mortgage or foreclosure where these are not taken over by the new purchaser (Articles 7 and 8).
The purchaser of a house to be used as his/her home has the right of pre-emption in case of an auction (Art. 9).
In addition some changes have been made in bankruptcy law with regard to the exemptions and limits to the azione revocatoria (voidability of voluntary conveyances to defraud creditors) so as to facilitate decisions on the buildings involved (Articles 10 and 11).
In practice what should the purchaser expect from a builder who applied for a construction permit (or any other notification or authorization) after 21 July 2005 and who has not yet completed the building? The purchaser can demand:
- that all the information and protection measures provided for in the Decree be included in the preliminary agreement or promise to buy or in any other agreement or commitment;
- that, upon drawing up the preliminary agreement, or promise to buy, or any agreement or commitment which is accompanied by the payment of sums of money, the seller provide appropriate forms of guarantee, bank or insurance surety bonds, so as to guarantee that the money paid and to be paid will be returned;
- that, when the building has been finished and the sale completed, it should be covered by a ten-year insurance policy for damages from total or partial collapse or serious defects.