A significant reduction in rent taxes is foreseen in the 2027 budget bill, presented to the Chamber of Deputies on 30 October. The provision halves the dry tax on new housing contracts with agreed rent, bringing it from the current 10 to 5 percent, and further reduces it to 1 percent when the tenant is under 36 years of age. On an annual rent of 7,200 euros, for example, the owner would pay 360 euros in tax, or just 72 euros in the case of a young tenant, compared to the current 720 euros.
The maneuver also reintroduces the flat rate tax for commercial lease contracts stipulated in 2027, limited to shops in cadastral category C/1 with a surface area not exceeding 200 square metres. The rate would be 21 percent, reduced to 10 percent in the capital municipalities of metropolitan cities. In Calabria, therefore, a shop located in Reggio Calabria could benefit from the 10 percent rate, while for a similar property in Catanzaro, Cosenza, Lamezia Terme or Soverato the 21 percent rate would be applicable.
The reduction in rates represents a significant turning point in real estate taxation and deserves full appreciation. After years in which the debate on housing has focused mainly on constraints and restrictions, the maneuver finally recognizes that encouraging supply through lower taxation can contribute to making the rental market more dynamic. It is an important change in approach, which would be appropriate to consolidate over time.
The new rates of 1 and 5 percent would be reserved for contracts stipulated in 2027, with application to rents received until 2031. The choice responds to the objective of encouraging the placing on the market of new rental homes, but also raises the issue of the stability of the benefits and the treatment of existing relationships. A fiscal discipline intended to impact multi-year contracts should in fact offer owners a sufficiently predictable horizon, preventing the economic conditions of the investment from depending on subsequent legislative decisions.
The bill also introduces anti-avoidance clauses to prevent existing contracts from being terminated early and replaced with new agreements for the sole purpose of obtaining the reduced rates. The limitations would also concern certain leases concluded with the same tenant, with his family members or with people already living in the property.
According to Sandro Scoppa, president of Confedilizia Calabria and Catanzaro, «the need to prevent evasive behavior could be considered understandable, but the provisions should be formulated in such a way as not to hinder contractual operations justified by actual needs of the parties. The termination of a lease and the stipulation of a new agreement may in fact have entirely legitimate reasons, which should not automatically be assimilated to attempts to circumvent tax regulations”.
The issue also affects Catanzaro and the other Calabrian municipalities in which territorial agreements for agreed leases are operational. In the capital, the new agreement filed on 1 July 2026 updated the parameters for determining the fees. The new rates could encourage greater use of these instruments, while their progressive stabilization would make it possible to offer owners more reliable tax references.
The tax on commercial leases also deserves particular attention. Its return constitutes an important result, but the difference between the 10 percent rate envisaged for Reggio Calabria and the 21 percent applicable in the other municipalities in the region suggests the opportunity to evaluate, compatibly with the available resources, an expansion of the more favorable treatment. Similarly, it could be useful to examine the extension of the regime to other cadastral categories and to properties with a surface area greater than 200 square metres. A further aspect concerns the prohibition on updating the rent during the application of the coupon, which in commercial leases can take on particular importance due to the duration of the relationships and the need to preserve the economic value of the consideration over time. It is an element that deserves attention in the overall assessment of the convenience of the new regime.
«The maneuver therefore offers the opportunity to start a different phase in real estate policy, in which the reduction of taxes is accompanied by greater certainty in relationships and more effective protection for owners. From this perspective, the bill on property release procedures, currently being examined by the Senate, also takes on importance, as it intervenes on another decisive factor for the availability of rental housing: the possibility of recovering one’s property within a reasonable timeframe”.
«Private property needs low taxes, stable rules and effectively protected rights. The reduction of the tax burden represents an important step, which must pave the way for a policy capable of restoring confidence in those who invest and make their properties available. For the rental market to develop, owners must be granted full freedom to use and enhance their assets, eliminating constraints and unjustified interference and ensuring, at the same time, a framework of legality and legal security in which contracts are respected and property is adequately protected. In a word: we need to liberalize, guaranteeing full respect for rights!