Millesimi tables: majorities to approve and change them

Does approving or changing millesimi tables require unanimity of the owners, or is a meeting majority enough? After a long conflict in case law, the answer came from the Joint Chambers of the Court of Cassation in judgment no. 18477 of 9 August 2010: tables do not have a contractual nature, so their approval follows the rules for meeting resolutions and does not require everyone's consent. Only in some cases does unanimity remain necessary. Let us see when.

The turning point of the 2010 Joint Chambers

Before 2010 a widespread view demanded unanimity to approve or change tables, treating them as an agreement among all owners. The Joint Chambers overturned this approach: tables are a technical tool that measures values and serves to allocate expenses; they neither grant nor remove real property rights. As a result their approval is a resolution like any other, adoptable by qualified majority, unless the table embodies a genuine agreement that departs from the statutory criteria.

The majority under Article 1136 second paragraph

For tables that merely apply the statutory criteria, the required majority is that of Article 1136, second paragraph, of the Civil Code, meaning a majority of those present representing at least half of the value of the building, equal to five hundred thousandths. It is the same majority that Article 69 of the implementing provisions requires for rectification for error and for revision due to changed conditions with an alteration greater than one fifth.

When unanimity is still required

Unanimity remains necessary when the aim is not to apply the statutory criteria but to depart from them. If the owners want to split an expense with a criterion other than the one provided by Articles 1123, 1124 and 1126 of the Civil Code, for example exempting someone or adopting agreed shares, the consent of everyone is needed, because it affects the property rights of individuals. In these cases the table is no longer a technical tool but an agreement, and as such requires each owner's adherence.

• Majority (Article 1136, second paragraph): tables applying the statutory criteria, rectification for error, revision for changed conditions beyond one fifth.
• Unanimity: tables or clauses that depart from the statutory allocation criteria or exempt an owner from expenses legally due from them.

Rectification and revision under Article 69

Article 69 of the implementing provisions codifies two cases in which a majority is always enough: when the values are the consequence of an error, and when, due to changed conditions of part of the building, such as vertical extensions, increases of surfaces or changes in the number of units, the proportional value of even a single unit is altered by more than one fifth. Outside these cases, changing an agreed table again requires unanimity.

The role of the agenda

For the resolution to be valid, the item must be clearly stated in the notice of meeting, so that every owner can decide whether to attend and how to vote. Approving or revising tables requires adequate supporting material, typically the technical report with surfaces, coefficients and new values: attaching it or making it available before the meeting makes the vote informed and reduces the risk of challenge for lack of information.

What happens to expenses if there is a dispute

Until a new table is approved or the court decides, the existing tables remain in force and expenses are split on them. Challenging a table does not automatically suspend the ongoing payment obligations: the administrator keeps collecting on the current basis. This prevents deadlock in ordinary management while the correctness of the thousandths is being discussed.

Preparing the documentation for the meeting, simulating the effect of new tables on the split and keeping minutes with the majorities reached is easier with a dedicated management tool. AmministraPro keeps tables, units and resolutions together, and immediately shows how a change in thousandths alters the owners' shares. The meeting and accounting features are described on /funzioni and the plans on /prezzi.