The Italian Senate has given the green light to the Security Decree with 109 votes in favour, 69 against, and one abstention. The new legislation introduces harsher penalties against squatting and, more broadly, against crimes related to public safety and order. The newly approved Security Decree amends the penal code to include a new offence punishable by up to seven years in prison for those who occupy a private residence using violence, threats, or deceit.
What’s changing regarding squatting in Italy
The new Security Decree introduces a new article in the penal code (634-bis), which imposes tougher penalties on anyone who unlawfully occupies a home—whether by deception or violence—without being the rightful owner.
The same decree also sets out a new fast-track procedure allowing the legitimate owner to regain full possession of the occupied property. How? The text provides for immediate eviction in the case of someone’s primary residence.
A new offence targeting squatting
More specifically, Article 10 of the Security Decree introduces the offence of arbitrary occupation of another person’s home into the penal code. This is set out in Article 634-bis, which creates a specific offence for anyone who, through violence, threats, deceit, or trickery, occupies or prevents access to a residential property lawfully possessed by someone else.
The offence carries a prison sentence of between two and seven years. Prosecution is automatic if the crime is committed against a vulnerable person—due to age or illness—or if it takes place on public or publicly accessible property. Furthermore, the law also targets those who assist or profit financially from squatting.
What changes regarding evictions?
There are also new measures regarding evictions. With the introduction of Article 321-bis of the Code of Criminal Procedure, in cases of reported squatting, the judge—at the request of the public prosecutor—may order eviction through a reasoned decree, even during the preliminary phase of criminal proceedings.
If the property in question is a primary residence, the law provides that the judicial police must immediately attend the site to enforce the eviction if there are reasonable grounds to consider the occupation arbitrary, without needing a judge’s authorisation. If the occupant refuses or resists, enforcement may proceed by force with the prosecutor’s authorisation, which may also be granted electronically.
The report prepared by the officers must be sent to the prosecutor within 48 hours, and once received, the prosecutor has a further 48 hours to request judicial validation. The judge must then rule within ten days. If no ruling is made within this timeframe, the eviction order becomes void.