Remote condominium meeting: requirements for validity

A remote condominium meeting is valid when, in addition to the majority consent required by Article 66 of the implementing provisions of the Italian Civil Code, it guarantees every entitled owner full participation: reliable identification of those present, an effective opportunity to speak and debate, and a verifiable vote. If even one of these conditions is missing, the resolution can be challenged. In this article we examine the validity requirements of a video conference meeting one by one, distinguishing what the law imposes from what is simply good practice.

The prerequisite: majority consent

Paragraph 6 of Article 66 of the implementing provisions establishes that, even where the condominium regulations do not provide for it, participation in the meeting may take place by video conference with the prior consent of the majority of the owners. The rule speaks of consent, not of a resolution with a double majority: it is therefore an agreement to the format, which each owner can express with a letter, an email or a certified email (PEC) sent to the administrator. Case law has also accepted consent by conclusive conduct, that is, inferred from the behaviour of those who take part without objecting to the format. In any case the consent must be documented and kept, because it is the first building block of validity.

Reliable identification of participants

The chair must be able to verify the identity of those who connect, exactly as attendance would be checked in an in-person meeting. A name displayed on the screen is not enough: each participant must be recognisable, so that votes are correctly attributed and quorums are properly calculated. In practice, the camera is switched on during the roll call, the connected user is matched to the entitled owner who was summoned, and the verified attendance is recorded in the minutes. Identification is especially delicate when a participant represents several units or acts under a proxy: the chair must be able to link each vote to the correct thousandths (millesimi) share.

Effective and simultaneous participation

The heart of validity is effective participation: everyone must be able to follow the discussion in real time, take the floor and hear the contributions of others. The platform must allow working two-way audio and video for each participant. A meeting in which some owners can only listen but not intervene does not respect the right to take part in forming the will of the assembly. That is why the chosen tool must handle the expected number of participants, and the administrator should test the quality of the connection in advance, providing a support channel for anyone with technical difficulties.

Traceability of the vote

The vote by video conference must be expressed clearly and be attributable. The chair puts each item on the agenda to a vote and collects the preferences so that it is possible to reconstruct who voted in favour, who against and who abstained, together with the relevant thousandths weight. An open vote is the rule in condominium meetings, so a video call lends itself well to collecting votes by roll call. What matters is that the count is verifiable and that the minutes state the result precisely, because that is where the voting quorums under Article 1136 of the Italian Civil Code are measured.

What to do if the connection drops

Losing the connection of a participant during a vote is one of the typical risks of a remote meeting. It is good practice to set a shared rule at the outset: if an entitled owner loses the connection while a vote is under way, the vote in progress is suspended and resumed once the connection is restored, or a reasonable time is allowed before the result is announced. Recording these interruptions in the minutes, and how they were handled, strengthens the regularity of the meeting and prevents a resolution from being flawed by the de facto exclusion of an owner.

Notice and minutes in the remote meeting

The deadlines and formalities of the notice remain the ordinary ones: it must be sent to entitled owners at least five days before the first call. The difference is that, instead of a physical location, the notice states the electronic platform and the start time, with the connection instructions. The minutes are drawn up by the secretary and signed by the chair, then sent to the administrator and to all owners with the same formalities as the notice. It is advisable to state in the minutes the remote format, the consent obtained, the verified attendance and how any technical problems were handled.

Summary of the validity requirements

• Majority consent to the remote format, documented and kept on file.
• Notice within the deadlines, stating the platform and the time.
• Reliable identification of each participant and of the units represented.
• Working audio and video for everyone, with effective and simultaneous participation.
• An open, traceable vote linked to the thousandths weight.
• Documented handling of connection drops during votes.
• Minutes drawn up, signed and sent with the formalities of the notice.

Meeting all these requirements by hand is demanding, especially in large condominiums. Management software helps to collect and store consent, to send notices stating the platform, to check quorums based on the thousandths and to produce orderly minutes with the list of attendance and voting results. AmministraPro integrates these tools into the daily work of the office: you can see how they work on the features page and compare the plans in the pricing section.