Do you have an apartment in Italy? You should partecipate in your condominium meetings.

Do you have an apartment in Italy? You should partecipate in your condominium meetings.

You proudly bought a house in Italy, or you inherited one from your parents or grandparents, and now you are just waiting for the first chance you have to come to Italy and spend some days in your house or maybe to retire in the “Bel Paese”.

Now, if you own an apartment in a condominium (a building with other apartments) in Italy, you should know that while you are not living there, there are still some important decisions that need to be made regarding the managing of the building. These decisions refer to ordinary and extraordinary management aspects of the building (maintenance, condominium rules, innovations, etc.) and the expenses that each owner has to bear (condominium installments, common expenses, collection of overdue payments from other owners, etc.) to keep the building safe, in good condition, and usable by owners “in communion”.

These very important decisions are taken during “condominium meetings”, which are meetings called by the administrator of the building (a manager of the building who has been nominated by the owners during a condominium meeting), attended by all the owners of the apartments in the building or those who are entitled by law (guardians, curators, delegates).

It is really important for an apartment owner to partecipate in these meetings, so he/she can vote and thus, together with the other owners, take decisions regarding the managing of the building, including the ones that have financial consequences e.g. payments for the reconstruction of the facade, sewerage system, stairs etc.

Now, if you are living abroad, coming to Italy for a condominium meeting (which is usually called around ten days before the meeting, therefore without much advance notice) could be difficult (especially now that there are the Coronavirus Covid-19 restrictions on flights) or expensive. However, as said above, it is important that the owner partecipates in these meeetings, as the decisions are binding for all owners, including the absent ones, and can have a great fiscal impact on them.

Therefore, you want to avoid the unpleasent situation in which you are not informed of the decisions the condominium is taking, but must accept their consequences. So what can you do?

You can send an email to info@vademecumitalia.com and our expert Italian lawyers can attend the meetings on your behalf. We will let you know what exactly you will have to do in order to authorize us to attend the meetings on your behalf and our fee for the assistance. You will have the chance to vote during the condominium meetings, and so be part of the decisions the condominium will take. The service is currently available in the cities of Rome and Turin, and surrounding areas.

The Condominium meeting in brief

The condominium has two internal organs: the one that decides, represented by the condominium owners’ meeting (“assemblea di condominio”); and the one that translates decisions into actions, represented by the building manager (“amministratore di condominio”).

The condominium meeting, made up of all those who participate in the condominium, is actually the body that takes decisions on what to do within the condominium. The “amministratore” is the manager of the building and he/she for example calls the meetings, drafts the budget, takes care of the payment of the utility bills, sends payment notices etc.

The purpose of the condominium meeting is to allow all the owners to discuss the decisions to be taken.

This meeting shall take place at the place, date and time set by the manager and formally communicated to the owners by means of a notice convening the meeting, generally sent via registered mail or PEC (certified email) at least 5 days before the meeting, which contains the “order of the day” (agenda), in order to allow all those who are entitled to participate to be informed of the subjects that will be discussed during the meeting.

Two dates are indicated in the notice of convocation: one is for the meeting “in prima convocazione” (in first call) and the second date is for the meeting “in seconda convocazione” (in second call), which is usually the following day. The reason why the manager sets two dates can be found in the numbers that are necessary for the meeting and votes to be valid.

In fact, in order to be able to say that the meeting, duly convened, is duly constituted, it is necessary that a certain number of owners are present, the so-called constitutive quorum. In order to be able to say that the assembly has taken decisions, a certain number of owners must be present, the so-called deliberative quorum. The majorities required to take a valid vote are different depending on the subject to be decided.

Now, the meeting “in prima convocazione” is constituted with the presence of many owners that own two thirds of the value of the entire building (therefore, 666.66 thousandths), and the majority of the participants in the condominium. On the other hand, the assembly “in seconda convocazione” is constituted with the presence of many owners that own one third of the value of the entire building (333.33 thousandths) and that represent one third of the participants in the condominium. Moreover, a less qualified majority is also required for meetings in “seconda convocazione”.

Therefore, due to the fact that if nobody shows up at the first date the meeting is automatically moved to the second date, and considering that the numbers (quorum costitutivo and quorum deliberativo) are significantly lower in the meeting “in seconda convocazione”, which makes it much easier to have a valid meeting and valid votes, usually no one goes to the first meeting and all the owners will meet directly on the second date.

The entitled parties shall then meet at the place and on the day established by the convocation, a president and a secretary shall be appointed, and the discussion and voting on each item on the agenda may begin. Minutes of the meeting (“verbale di assemblea”) are then drawn up listing the names of all those present, in person or by proxy, and their shares expressed in thousandths (as said above), and summarising what was said and voted on during the meeting (“delibera”). This document is therefore very important because it contains proof of what happened during the meeting, and includes the statements that the owners asked to write in it (for example when one is dissenting), if someone left during the meeting, and especially all the votes that were taken (which means the decisions that were taken during the meeting), etc..

Meeting reports are binding for all owners, i.e. also for absent and dissenting owners, without prejudice to the possibility of appealing to the Judicial Authority.

You can send an email to info@vademecumitalia.com and our expert Italian lawyers can attend the meetings on your behalf. We will let you know what exactly you will have to do in order to authorize us to attend the meetings on your behalf and our fee for the assistance. You will have the chance to vote during the condominium meetings, and so be part of the decisions the condominium will take. The service is currently available in the cities of Rome and Turin, and surrounding areas.

According to art. 1135 of the Italian Civil Code, the condominium meeting can decide on any matter concerning the condominium, for example, it can

• appoint or revoke the manager and establish his salary;
• approve the budget for ordinary expenses which will be borne by the owners;
• approve the annual report of the administrator and the use of the residual balance of the management;
• decide on the need for extraordinary maintenance work and innovations, with the mandatory establishment of a special fund equal to the amount of the work;
• other

There are two types of condominium meetings: ordinary and extraordinary. The ordinary meeting is mandatory by law to be held at least once a year and is the meeting in which the management of the condominium is discussed and in which the owners are made aware of what the manager has done (art. 1135, c.1, Civil Code).

The extraordinary meeting is called by the manager or the owners only when there is a specific need. It generally concerns extraordinary works, such as renovation works or innovations to be made within the building.

You can send an email to info@vademecumitalia.com and our expert Italian lawyers can attend the meetings on your behalf. We will let you know what exactly you will have to do in order to authorize us to attend the meetings on your behalf and our fee for the assistance. You will have the chance to vote during the condominium meetings, and so be part of the decisions the condominium will take. The service is currently available in the cities of Rome and Turin, and surrounding areas.

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