Gianfranco Morocutti, Piero Panunzi, Fiorenzo Guaralda, Antonio De Santis (I)
ABSTRACT:
The authors describe the initial problems encountered through the new computerized cadastre management system, the system’s evolution, the advantages the implementation of the new procedures has brought about, relations between professionals and the cadastre administration, and the need for a unified data bank to ensure a modern and up-to-date cadastre.
ZUSAMMENFASUNG
Die Verfaser beschreiben die Entwicklungsprozesse der Informatik im Kataster, die dadurch entstandenen Anfangsprobleme, die Entwicklung und die sich ergebenen Vorteile; weiters wird die Beziehung zwischen Freiberufler und Katasterverwaltung beschrieben, sowie die Notwendigkeit der Einführung einer einzigen Datenbank um einen modernen und aktuellen Kataster zu erhalten.
RESUME
Les auteurs décrivent les problèmes initiaux qui se sont posés pour ce qui concerne la nouvelle gestion informatique du cadastre, l’évolution et les avantages découlant de l’activation des nouvelles procédures, les relations entre les professionnels et l’administration du cadastre ainsi que la nécessité de la constitution d’une banque de données unique pour un cadastre moderne et mis à jour.
INTRODUCTION
The integration and computerisation of the cadastre along with the registry of immovable property represent some of the most important reforms in the Italian cadastre reform project drawn up by the Territorial Department of the Ministry of Finance. This ambitious project has two-fold aim. The first is, of course, to improve the present system of immovable property publication. On a medium-long term basis, however, it is also possible to identify the second, of particular appeal to historians but above all of great interest to operatore in the immovable property sector: we refer to the possibility of developing the publication system for the probative value of entries.
This revolution necessarily requirest the integration of the cadastral archives with those of the immovable property registries, and the perfect alignment of information concerning immovables with that concerning the holders of the relative effective rights.
In 1953 the then Minister of Finance, Ezio Vanoni, made the declaration we quote here word for word: "'It is allowable for me, as Mínister of Finance, to indicate as the Cadastre’s first and most important speclfíc purpose the objective stated in its founding enactment, law No. 3682 of lst March 1886, i.e. the ascertainment of immovable properties and changes in same, and I refer here to all immovables, -i.e. both land and buildings. Events, whlch it is not relevant to examine here, have caused this objective to be, if not forgotten, given only secondari consideration, but the time has now come to bring !t back into the front rank, as the completion of the Cadastre is now immínent as regards its surveylng and appraísal aspects.
Ascertainment and changes in immovable properties are only a part of the cadastre’s work, certainly very important but not primary. And it appears useful to stress the fact that, in contrast with the usual belíef, the cadastral operations are far from closed: they must be pursued right to the very end wj.th the concrete fulfllment of the repeatedly stated and recalled promise regarding the Cadastre’s legal effectiveness. The fulfllment of this promise constitutes the accomplishment of an act of civil progress which would do honour to the politica programmi of any party and any government."
Perhaps it is not superfluous to recall that numerous and significant measures have already been taken in this direction, at both ministerial and governmental level. In particular, it should be remembered that in the 194Os' a Committee was appointed to study and draw up legislative proposals aimed at providing the Urban Building Cadastre with probative status.
After careful study, the Committee proposed the institution of a "Building Book", which was to serve as a probative instrument for urban real estate properties. However, due to the partial nature of the proposed reform and the fact that it would have created a differentiated system between rural properties (publishing system based on registration and the keeping of Immovable Property Registers) and urban properties (probative system linked to the "Building Book") apparently led the Committee itself to later opt for a project foreseeing a "Land Book" applying to all types of immovable property.
This project, revived on several occasions, was finally updated and formulated by an ad hoc Committee chaired by Minister Vanoni himself, in a very technical and legal report.
But the repeatedly and solemnly taken commitment to respond effectively to the legislative intent to ensure the cadastre’s legal force has been totally forgotten right up to the present day.
The cadastre’s original primary objective had in fact been intended as the civil and legal ascertainment of ownership, as is clearly apparent from the words of the prime mover and developer of the "Unitary Cadastre", project, senator Messedaglia, a technical expert of great prestige and charisma. He had declared that: "the ordinary point of view from which we consider the cadastre or the role we attributed to it as a mere fiscal instrument for the purpose of allocating and distributing tax with the degree of uniformità that can be hoped for in practice, is in fact not its sole and esclusive purpose, nor in fact its principal one. Another function must also be aimed for, namely the more accurate ascertainment of property ownership and the relative real rights."
The committee was well aware that all effects for the correct assessment and recovery of real estate taxation that a lewgal cadastre could provide, the opposite was not true.
Consequently, cadastral registration procedures had aimed at the exact delimitation of boundaries potentially in dispute by drawing up and signature of a specific report and a whole series of precautions envisaged in preparation for the probative cadastre.
But after a few years the failure to introduce the necessari changes in the civil code, the urgent need to speed up work and, above all, economic requirements led to the abandonment of these complex working procedures.
In contrast however, as already mentioned, the debate in academic, parlamentary and governmental milieux remained very lively until the 1960s, the discussion later being particularly stímulated by the law instituting the urban building cadastre and the relative preparatory operations.
In this case too, as previously indicated, it was subsequently decided to abandon the project to endow the cadastre with probative effect. However the project has left us one tangible legacy: we refer to the extremely rich store of graphic documentation consisting of the location plans of each individual real estate unit kept by the Italian cadastre system. But for this fundamental documentation, had not been present the urban building cadastre could well have been described as descriptive rather than geometrical.
As time passed, the cadastre’s fiscal purposes gradually prevailed over civil purposes.
Indeed, in the collective mind the latter were progressively forgotten and the cadastre came to be perceived solely as the fiscal instrument best able to ensure the fair distribution of the burden of taxation that was to be borne by real estate.
THE CADASTRE'S LACK OF LEGAL EFFECTS
The fact that the legal aspects of the cadastre has not been implemented has heavily conditioned thecadastre’s institutional life no less due to its negative effects on citizens, cadastre offices, the internal revenue administration and the legislators themselves.
Indeed, as far as citizens are concerned, failure to implement the cadastrels legal and probative role has certainly not fostered the regular reporting of alterations, which as a rule constitute improvements in terms of incomeearning capacity, connected with building and land use changes. More specifically, on account of its fiscal effects, the only taxpayers with incentive to make reports to the cadastre are those potential benefiting from facilitation measures.
On the other hand, the inland revenue influenced the cadastre, neglecting or overlooking and whatever was not potentially revenue-producing and so insignificant for the taxation.
Indeed it was only with the circular No. 2 of 1984, issued by the Department of the Cadastre and Treasury Technical Services, did the Ministry attempt to facilitate the entry in the cadastral registers of information regarding reports of new construction or alteration works, previously not registered until after assessment of the cadastral income rating.
Here we can mention some classic cases, such as rural buildings, the commonownership portions of buildings or urban areas, which are still only partially, if at all, recorded in the cadastre.
In fact it is only recently, with law No. 133 of 1994, that the legislative authories have foreseen a cadastral registration of rural buildings similar to that of urban buildings.
Another factoris lack up importance given by the regulations and actual practice to "ownership registration change", formalities compared to technical updating, as can be seen f rom the very wording of the legislation: "request" in the case of ownership transfers, and "report" or "declaration" respectively in the case of changes in existing building property and newly constructed buildings.
The above already clearly reveals how the abandonment of the legal and civil aspetcs in favour of the fiscal effects of the cadastre has negatively conditioned the state of affairs. (But here it is useful to recall something which generally receives insufficient attention, namely the improper use by legislators of the cadastral income data for capital taxation purposes: we refer here to indirect taxes, but above all to the Municipal Tax on Real Property (ICI). In fact an instrument based on income-based criteria - even íf perfectly up-to-date and able to respond to the market - can only be used for capital taxation purposes at the risk of creating inconsistencies and inequalities. It should also be recalled that, with the introduction of the ICI, over 70% of the cadastre-based tax revenue from immovables is linked to a capital value: the cadastral conventional value. The question thus arises, and has as yet to have an answer, how the choice of an "incomes cadastre" rather than a "capital values cadastre" can be justified).
But we have already mentioned that a legal cadastre can give rise to perfectly valid effects for fiscal purposes, but not vice-versa. In fact it must be said, with inevitable bitterness, that with time even the original fiscal aìm - i.e. the equitable spreading of the tax burden over real estate property by objective criteria - has been progressively abandoned in favour of the use of the cadastre system as an instrument for levies for ordinary and extraordinary financing purposes.
We need to recall that for a number of decades - from the time of the urban cadastre’s foundation until 1992 unsatisfactory mechanisms for revaluing cadastral incomes replaced technical activities for the ascertainment and registration of territorial and property market trends, with the consequent progressive introdution into the system of those intolerable distortions of fiscal equity that are today so widely criticized.
And there is no doubt that the scarce political, social and media attention paid to these distortions can be attributed solely to the extremely limited level of taxation in those years.
Hence, it appears even more serious that the first revision of urban ratings carried out by the administration, which came into force in 1992, had almost exclusively monetary effect, as in fact, in compliance with the regulations, it was not possible to perform at the same time the complementare revision of the gradings system, i.e. the very operation that could (at long lastl) have allowed an accurate review of the regional development situation.
On the contrary, the revaluation of ratings and the concommitant introduction of the municipal tax on real estate acted as a "powerful magnifying glass" for many inconsistencies already present in the system, generating a mass of litigation initiated by private citizens, trade associations and municipalities, which has even managed to involve the Constitutional Court.
Ackonwledgement of the limits of the cadastral system should have led to the abandonment of the "makeshift measures path" followed for decades for revaluation purposes in favour of a genuine reform.
Many technícal specialists and experts in thìs sector are pondering in the possible repercussions of increasing rates and incomes on all real estate properties by law, indiscriminately and to the same extent, when the most recent experience has confirmed (if still necessary) the absolute urgency of a correct technical review of the classifìcation system. The only possible answer can once again be found in the use of the cadastral basis of taxation as a tool for extraordinary financing purposes and less and less as a technical instrument and objective "photograph" of the income values of immovable properties. And it is clear to all and sundry that the consequences of final approvai of this new legislation can only accentuate the existing levels of inequality and the existing tensions between the cadastral administration, municipal authorities and the real estate owners.
Incidentally, choosing this option would be particularly detrimental for the cadastre system, given the f act that the exceptional nature of the historical processes to be initiated and implemented (both as regards the land cadastre and, to an even greater extent, the buildings cadastre) would require, as indispensable preliminare conditions, a period of fiscal peace and cooperative relations between the central and local Administrations and the taxpayers concerned.
Consequently, we need to heed those who maintain that the operation of reviewing the appraisals and classification of rural and urban property units will prove extremely difficult, if not impossible, without a solemn commitment on the part of the Government and Parliament regarding the equalizing, and not revenue-incrementing, nature of the operation in question.
History is not made with "ifs". Nevertheless, it appears perfectly correct to assert that the internal revenue administration, along with the governmental and parliamentary authorities, would have had to take into account the quality and timeliness of updating operations if the promised legal effects of the cadastre, or of other institutions closely correlated to this, had been implemented.
Indeed, it is certain that this would have assured with time what is today being laboriously pursued, with particular reference to:
Moreover, there can be no doubt that we could today be telling a very different story as regards some legislative measures (in particular those concerning aumesties for unlicensed building works) and some technical processes (such as the initial computerization of the urban cadastre archives), which produced formidable "barriers of inefficiency" which are difficult to overcome even today.
Unfortunately, the facts and the history of the past few decades have amplye confirmed what had been lucidly perceived by Messedaglia and the parliamentary committee he chaired, as regards the perfect respondence of a probative cadastre to fiscal needs, and not vice-versa.
Awareness of this difficult reference framework has given rise, with the establishment of the Territorial Department, to an exceptional project for the renovation of the cadastral system which also foresees the front-line involvement of the pertinent professions involved.
TOWARDS CADASTRE-IMMOVABLE PROPERTY REGISTRY INTEGRATION: THE STRONG POINTS OF A REFORM PROJECT
The analysis of the situation inherited by the Territorial Department in 1993 can be summarized as follows for the cadastre and immovable property registries sectors:
CADASTRE
IMMOVABLE PROPERTY REGISTRIES
In relation to this grim state of affairs, the Territorial Department has developed a global reform project in the light of the sytemsls central institutional aims: fiscal equity and certainty of rights in the immovable property field.
As regards this second point in particular, which is the subject of this paper, the project foresees the integration of the cadastral archives with those of the inuuovable property registries as a prior condition also for the hopedfor evolution of the property records publication system in the direction of the probative value of entries.
The technical conditions for achieving this result and guaranteeing quality services in keeping with the countryls needs have already been identified as consisting above all of:
To these aims we must add others: the opening-up of the system towards the professions involved, municipalities, other interested parties and society as a whole.
It is clear that informatics and telematics will be the major catalysts of the reform process.
But the great potential of these instruments can of course onyl be deployed with appropriate regulatory, financial and human resources, and of adequate reorganizational processes.
In more concrete terms, it may perhaps be useful to recall in brief the principal measures already undertaken and those yet to be implemented, particularly concerning the quality of data and services, with a view to improving the cadastral and real property publicity system.
A - Continuous updating of data banks
The Territorial Department’s strategic goal is the complete activation, extending over the entire national territori, of the computerized procedure known as DOCFA for the presentation of building cadastre technical documents on magnetic media, and the automatic updating of the relative archives, with consequent issue of search results virtually in "real time".
This procedure has already been 100% activated, and therefore this wager can probably be won by the Administration.
In 1997, the Department's central objective was to activate the symmetrical procedure, known as NOTA, developed for the immovable property registries, in parallel with the realization of the new automation system of these offices (HW).
The goal set, aimed at verifying assurances as to the completeness of archives and the continuity of entries/registrations, in their migration towards the new client-server environment, can be achieved thanks also to recent regulatory tools, promoted by the Administration, which foresee the compulsory presentation of mortgage formalities on magnetic media by members of the notarial profession.
B - Cadastre/Immovable Property Registries integration
We recall the advanced state of progress of the experimental introduction of the computerised procedure known as automatic registration change, which aims to update the identities of the title-holders indicated in the cadastre following deeds transferring ownership and/or establishng effective rights, on the basis of the corresponding transcription notes presented to the immovable property registries.
Clearly the activation of this procedure exemplifies the simplification and rationalization of administrative procedures, the reduction of social costs, and above all an improvement in the quality of services, since it guarantees perfect alignment between the property constituting the object of the right, the title to same and the holder(s) of the said right.
In the light of what we stated under letter A) above, and considering the further processes now under way for the completion of the graphic and cartographic archives, the final overall picture can be easily drawn: that of an integrated cadastre/immovable property registry system, based on a numbered mapping system to provide indispensable proof of the location, layout and composition of the object of the effective right.
C - Completeness of the archives
Activation of the procedures for the integration of the cadastral archives with those of the immovable property registries also undoubtedly requires the elimination of pending formalities in each of the two institutions. The backlog in the urban building cadastre is particularly serious, as can be seen from the following figures:
It should be noted that the computerized procedures described under A) above (DOCFA and NOTA) which, due to their nature and function, will act as a "barrier" against all future accumulation of backlogs, also constitute, for this very reason, the condition for the definitive elimination of the existing backlog.
In actual fact, thanks also to improvements of organization, a historical transformation is happening in the cadastre offices: instead of structures producine backlogs (over 50% of the incoming documents were not dealt with), they are becoming fully efficient structures that can not only handle the incoming formalities but also deal with the backlog of documents produced by the previous system.
The enormity of this backlog and the impellent political, as well as technical, need to complete the inventory in a reasonably short time have certainly motivated an articulated strategy for eliminating the backlog. This strategy foresees, as already mentioned, the extensive involvement of the relevant professional categories. (Despatch of only those backlog operations correlated with newly presented updating formalities would in itself require a total of no less than 20 years. Accordingly, the strategy proposed by the Department foresees the combined use of external resources and internal resourses utilized on an extraordinary basis so as to assure the full accomplishment of the target over the four-year period - 1997-2000 - scheduled for the project in question).
Again for the same reasons (inventory completeness) it should be recalled that, for the effects and purposes of Art. 9, paragraph 1, of Law No. 133 of 1994, the Administration must proceed to provide an inventory of rural construction in the urban buildings cadastre, which will then be renamed the "buildings cadastre". (As is well-known, at present the Administration’s records contain only marginal information on rural constructions; accordingly, the legislation in question is clearly aimed at overcoming this present "deficit" by integrating the said information with that which ordinarily characterize urban property units).
As has been emphasized on several occasions, this important objective also has social and political ramification as well as economic nature, above all in relation to the costs of the entire operato or the social categories which will produce them; consequently the Department, in drawing up the relative regulations, intends be present the decision-making bodies with two options, the completion of the operation over a predetermined (but credible) time span, or else the inventory of rural constructions l'in case of use" (change of state and/or rights ... ).
Independently of the manner and terms of execution, the operations will also inevitably require the direct involvement of the relevant professional categories.
B. Review of appraisals and management of a new parametrical
classification system
Although this topic is somewhat outside the scope of this paper, in order we feel it is worth stressing the main points that characterize and qualify the review processes that the Administration must put into effect. These can be reduced to two: completeness of processes and procedura innovations for the dynamic updating of the technical-appraisal system.
As regards the first, it is sufficient to recall that the processes to be implemented - which concern, incidentally, both the land cadastre and the urban cadastre encompass all types of operations, from the review of census zones to the review of the classification of each individual property unit. As has already been mentioned, in particular with regard to the urban building cadastre, these constitute a complex set of operations whose difficulty and extent is comparable only to the formation of the urban cadastre itself.
As regards the second aspect, the Administrationls aim is to activate appraisal system updating that can be handled to a large extent by automation, so as to reflect the property marketls spatial and temporal variations on an appropriately dynamic basis (for instance, at 5-year intervals).
More specifically, it is foreseen that the cadastral system of urban property unit appraisal and classification must be able (when fully operative) to operate on the basis of three automatic update levels:
For these purposes, analyses and experimental trials of new computerized parametrical models are already under way to support these appraisals. The new procedures will come into full-scale operation on lst january 2000, simultaneously with the new urban appraisals system.
E - Access to data interexchange system with municipalities, notaries and other professional categories
To achieve the goal in questioni which f oresees the creation of a nation wide telematic network, we note that the chief implementation instrument consists of the regulations drawn up by the Territorial Department in execution of Art. 9 of Law 133/94 and is awaiting publicationas a legislative measure.
In any case,in operative terms, the "Cadastre-Municipalities" project is currently being put into effect under the coordination of AIPA, the Public Administration Informatics Authority, and in the framework of the Public Administration’s more extensive unitary network system. In particular, commencing from experimental laboratories already in operation in Naples, Bari and Bologna, approximately 50 municipalities will soon be linked up to the system.
The final objective can of course only be fully accomplished through procedure directly effected by telematics means between the Administration and the authorized Users. (in particular, the points to be finalized include: - so-called "electronic signature" and the probative nature of documents transmitted by telematic means, - tax collection, following definition of the relative regulations).
In particular, as regards Municipalities, the new functional architecture model aims to valorize their role in relation both to provisions already issued and to consolidated policy approaches in the matter of administrative and fiscal decentralization. This role extends beyond the important area of the diffusion and provision of local services to include that of the improvement of the quality of such services, in synergy with the Cadastre Administration.
To these requisites/goals we nust add the no less important objectives connected with the opening-up of the informatica system towards the pertinent professional categories, given their role as the chief input-sources (as well as users) of the system itself, and also towards other agencies and society as a whole.
The project directives and the measures concretely implemented or in progress constitute the indispensable prior conditions for:
CONCLUSIONS
At the close of this paper we pose the following question: has the articulated project described in the preceding paragraphs any of being fulfilled, or is it destined to remain no more than a pipe-dream?
As already mentioned, the Territorial Department has assumed the responsibility of drawing up and bringing to the attention of the policy-making bodies a study entitled "The Cadastre Project: state of the art and prospects".
This study is divided into two parts:
In particular, a cost-benefit analysis has been drawn up that reveals the extensive possibilities that exist not only for the purposes of self-financing the costs of the foreseen measures, but also of assuring the inland revenue and local authorities of significant revenue flow increases.
Without venturing any premature publicity of the magnitude of the figures concerne, it appears sufficient to recall the over 10 million urban property units still lacking any income rating, the false rural buíldings and those not reported to the cadastre (the number of which, however, appears somewhat marginal).
But the study has appropriately made it clear that the foreseeable benefits involve not only financial factors but also advantages of a social and civil nature.
To make sure that all this endeavour does not remain incomplete, considerino that several important objectives have already been achieved, resources supplementari to those ordinarily employed will obviously be necessary during the project’s realization period.
But as already mentioned, these can be financed with a marginal quota of the benefits obtainable.
Moreover, as we have previously made clear, in addition to the financial and human resources required, the rapid acquisition or definition of new regulatory instruments is also needed.
The financial resources are necessary above all for the completion of the computerization process and simultaneously sustain the transformation of the configuration of the system (at system architecture and procedure levels) "client-server" environment. At the same time, as a whole (at system architecture and procedure levels) towards the "client-server" environment. At the same time, the re-engineering of the data banks is foreseen with migration from the present reticular configuration to a more efficient relational system.
The rapid acquisition or definitìon of new regulatory instruments along with financial and human resources, is also indispensable.
In addition, the following three framework conditions are determining:
But above all, what now appears indispensable is a full awareness, on the part of political, governmental and social forces, of the civil and not only fiscal significance of this institution, which must not be fragmented but instead revitalized and helped to grow, also with the cooperation of municipal administrations and other pertinent local bodies.
Thanking you for your attention, with best wishes to you all for every success in your work.