Common parts: the powers of the condominium administrator

Among the powers that the law attributes to the condominium administrator there is also that of regulate the use of common things and services, in order to ensure the best enjoyment for all condominiums.

It is the administrator's duty to supervise the regularity of the common services, the correct use of the common areas by the condominiums, also based on the condominium regulations. It can intervene in certain situations to guarantee equal enjoyment of common goods. However, he cannot completely prohibit, on his own initiative, the use of the property by one or more condominium owners.

When it comes to the use of common areas, the reference standard is article 1102 of the civil code. This article establishes that each condominium owner can use the common property, as long as he does not alter the destination and does not prevent other condominiums from doing so equal use according to their law. To this end, and within these limits, each condominium owner can make the necessary changes at his own expense for the best enjoyment of the property.

How to use the common areas

It is impossible to list the ways in which the common areas are used. The cases are endless and vary from condominium to condominium. Just to give a few examples, let's think about all the interventions that concern the protection of the lift system, the provision of heating, the methods of use of the condominium courtyard, the common external areas of the building, the parking areas, the stairs, the attic.

On the other hand, It is not always easy for the administrator to regulate the use of the common areas, guaranteeing the right to equal use. In practice, everything can get very complicated.

The rule of equal use

Article 1102 of the civil code provides general rules that allow one to evaluate, from time to time, whether the activities carried out by individual condominium owners on the common areas are legitimate.

Each condominium owner can provide services in the common areas, provided that:

• do not alter its destination;
• does not prevent other participants from equally using it according to their rights.

The right of use of the individual condominium concerns the common good in its entirety, not a part or quota of it. The rule of equal use for all condominiums can only be waived with a "contractual" condominium regulation, i.e. accepted by all condominiums.

Powers of the condominium administrator

The administrator's power to regulate the use of common things is therefore aimed at ensuring equal use by all condominium owners. The administrator can intervene to guarantee this right. However, as mentioned, it certainly cannot deny a condominium a particular use of the common good which is permitted to all others, unless this is provided for in the contractual condominium regulation. Such a provision by the administrator would be illegitimate, because it would go beyond his powers.

Equal use

Article 1102 of the civil code says that each condominium owner can make the most intense use of the common property, provided that this is compatible with the rights of others.

In general terms, work should be considered permitted which, while permanently involving a part of the common property, does not however prevent adequate use of the residual part (think, for example, of the installation of solar panels on the flat roof condominium).

The most intense use

The possibility for each owner to make use of the common property and use it in a more intense way, for a particular purpose, is permitted, always without prejudice to the destination and the right to equal use by the other condominium owners. Within these limits, the works carried out by the individual condominium owner must be considered legitimate, even if they were carried out without the specific authorization of the assembly.

Exclusive use

The exclusive use of the common areas by the individual condominium owner is however permitted only within very narrow limits. According to jurisprudence, the most intense and diverse use of the common good can also become exclusive, as long as this occurs in implementation of a specific agreement concluded between all the holders of the right.

If no such agreement exists, the individual condominium owner is allowed to use the common parts exclusively on the double condition that the property, in the remaining parts, is sufficient to also satisfy the potential, similar needs of the other condominium owners, and that the same property does not lose its normal and original destination.

Based on these principles, just to give an example, it is considered illegitimate use of condominium courtyard as a parking area “as the entry and parking of vehicles in the area, preventing or hindering the use of the same by other condominiums, would go beyond the scope of a more intense and more extensive use of the common thing, to fall within that of the innovations prohibited pursuant to article 1120 of the civil code” (Civil Court of Cassation, 05/10/2009, n. 21256).