In my previous diary page I told you about OrganizeREDD, one of the two software used by REDD in the document due diligence process. If you haven’t done so yet, I suggest you read it, because today I’m here to talk to you about the second software that allows the overlay of floor plans: CompaREDD.
This is the proprietary software for overlapping floor plans that simplifies and speeds up the process of overlapping floor plans and other graphics (elevations and sections) of the property, fundamental elements for verifying the legitimacy of the latter.
Follow me well: the reasoning may seem a bit convoluted, but it’s simpler than you think!
Each property, over time, inevitably undergoes changes: opening or closing of doors or windows, construction or demolition of walls, closing of balconies, etc. These are called “abuses” (you have certainly heard this word!) If carried out without authorization from the Administration.
In fact, with the exception of very few cases, to carry out work on a property it is always mandatory to deliver to the Administration the graphic drawings that represent the same as it appears before the intervention (“ante operam” or “survey of the state of affairs”) and how it will appear later (“post operam” or “project status”). This type of floor plan is defined by the technicians of our field as “authorized status” or “approved status”.
Now imagine having in front of you many drawings of the building that, following each other over time, allow you to reconstruct the evolution! Whenever the post operam of a project does not coincide with the ante operam of the next project, it necessarily means that unauthorized changes have been made between one project and the other because they are not represented in any drawing!
As you know, then, each property is registered in the Cadastre system, a sort of huge (now digital) book that collects the data of all the properties and land in Italy.
To register a property in the Land Registry it is mandatory to file the plan of the construction project, while every time work is carried out on it, the Land Registry must be updated by depositing the plans of the authorized projects. The cadastral plans are defined by the technicians of our field “legitimate state”.
Now imagine comparing the most recent cadastral plan with each other and the plan of the last authorized project: for everything to be regular, the drawings should coincide perfectly with each other.
However, it is not certain that these plans represent the property as it currently appears: it may have undergone unauthorized changes and, as such, not represented in any drawing.
for this reason, there is a third and final plan, defined by the technicians as “survey of the state of affairs”, which represents the property in its current state and which is detected by your trusted technician immediately after your request (it is as if it were the photograph of the property at that time). Only by comparing it with this design is it possible to verify whether or not there have been abuses.
It is therefore necessary to perform three overlaps: the first, between the post operam of each project and the ante operam of the next project; the second, between the survey of the state of affairs and the post operam of the last project; the third, between the survey of the state of affairs and the most recent land registry.
Only in this way can you be sure of the legitimacy of the property.
But how to superimpose the floor plans? Even the most complete programs require time and familiarity to perform this operation, even more so if they are designs that differ from each other in size and definition.