The works are stopped. And tenants have to live with scaffolding that makes windows and balconies unusable. We are in Ascoli, in via Arrigo Boito, where around 120 families complain about the blockade of construction sites in a complex of six buildings in the Porta Cappuccina district. The ambitious redevelopment project, costing around 14 million euros, had been started by drawing on the benefits provided by the 110% superbonus, but the contractor would have put everything on standby before the first Sal (work progress) was certified.
The mayor: “Shame, they have worked their whole lives”
“It’s a shame” the mayor of Ascoli Piceno Marco Fioravanti denounces on social media, speaking of a “paradoxical situation”. “120 families who have worked a lifetime to buy a house are now walled inside the house and because they have participated 110%”.
According to the mayor, the company in question went away “a few years ago” and “left everything like this. So people can’t look out onto the balcony, they can’t open the window, there is also an environmental public health problem”.
The work is blocked and the Municipality’s hands are tied
In addition to the installation of thermal insulation, the works included the installation of new fixtures, the removal of architectural barriers and a new heating plant. The Municipality has activated a coordination table involving local police, firefighters and the local health authority.
The prefecture was also informed of the situation. The municipal administration, however, has its hands tied: “We do not have the powers to be able to spend public money in a private space where the problem is not caused by atmospheric events or disasters, but by a private company” explains Fioravanti in the video. It is not clear what caused the stall in the works, the fact is that other similar cases have occurred with the superbonus construction sites, often due to the difficulties of companies in monetizing tax credits and in recovering the expenses incurred.
The law was “badly written” and “carried out in a bad way”, thunders the mayor, speaking of “over 300 people” who find themselves in a similar situation in Ascoli.