Italy’s superbonus 110% scheme prompts surge of green home renovations
For years, people living in Castelnuovo di Porto, a medieval village close to Rome, had put off doing maintenance jobs on their homes, whether it be fixing the roof or cracks in walls caused by earthquakes, because they could not afford it. So when the Italian government said it would foot the entire bill for a range of renovation works, on the sole proviso of rendering buildings energy efficient and earthquake-proof, they could not believe their luck.
“When I first heard about the government getting all this money from the EU, I didn’t think it would affect me in the slightest,” said Chris Warde-Jones, a British photographer born in Italy. “But when people in the village started talking about doing up houses – and there are a lot that need doing up here, quite a few are showing their age – our ears pricked up and we thought: hold on, can we do this too?”
Thousands of Italian and foreign homeowners have flocked to access Italy’s generous superbonus 110% scheme, which has so far cost the government about €21bn (£17.5bn) since launching in July 2020 as part of the country’s post-pandemic recovery strategy.
As the name suggests, homeowners are entitled to a tax deduction of up to 110% on the cost of upgrading their home, such as installing insulation systems, heat pumps and solar panels or replacing an old boiler, or undertaking works that reduce the risk of damage from seismic activity.
People can claim the subsidy by deducting the costs of the works from their tax returns over a five-year period, or pass the onus on to the building contractor, who deducts it from their taxes or sells the credit to a bank, which in turn is refunded by the government. The extra 10% covers bank interest.
The scheme applies to works on either
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