[pigro]

I've seen various stuff on this across numerous threads, but no one thread fully covers all the questions below, so here goes ...

It's often suggested that a detached house with a pool is automatically classified as "luxury", i.e. catastale category A/1. However I've also seen a post (from Sebastiano) saying he thought a pool would automatically classify the house as a "villa", which is A/8.

My own place is a large, modern, detached house (built in 1995). I'd describe it (in laymans terms) as a "villa", but it is currently categorised as A/7 ("Detached House"). Its catastal value is just less than 50% of its approx. market value, and has not changed since I bought the house in 2003.

I will probably have a swimmming pool built within the next 12-18 months, so I'm trying to understand:

1) whether that will likely trigger automatic reclassification of the catastal category purely due to the addition of the pool

2) if so, would it be reclassified to A/1 or A/8 (or would this still be decided by the comune on a case by case basis)

3) if not, I assume that on completion of the approved works, the comune may optionally (?) do a "manual" reassessment. Is that likely in my case, where the catastal value is (I believe) pretty much up to date & within expected "tolerances"?

4) what practical implications would any reclassification have? I know it makes ICI more expensive (but I think that's based not on the catastral category itself but on the rendita catastale?), and I know that A/1 prevents 'prima casa' discount from applying ... is there anything else I should be aware of?

5) As far as I know, the catastal value is derived purely from the rendita catastale (value = (r.c. + 5%) x multiplication factor, where the factor is 120 for any house in the "A" category. That suggests to me that the r.c. is the "base" value, from which all other property values/taxes/classifications are derived. Is there any direct relationship between the catastal category and the rendita catastale within any one specific comune? i.e. on construction of a pool, is it the reassesment of the r.c. of the property that would trigger any change of classification from A/7 to A/8 or A/1?

TIA for any help on this.