Conservatory Acts on Common Parts: the Article 1130 Duty

Performing conservatory acts relating to the building's common parts is one of the manager's fundamental duties, set out in Article 1130, no. 4 of the Italian Civil Code. It is the power and duty to intervene to preserve the integrity and functionality of the common property, preventing deterioration and damage. Unlike other activities, conservatory acts may be performed even without a specific meeting resolution, because they are a direct expression of the custodial function entrusted to the manager.

What conservatory acts are

Conservatory acts are all those interventions, material and legal, aimed at keeping the common parts in the condition they must be in to serve their function. This notion covers the repairs needed to stop damage from progressing, measures to deal with a dangerous situation, and also legal acts intended to protect the condominium's rights over common parts, such as interrupting a time limit or serving notice on a third party who occupies or damages a common asset.

• Urgent repairs to stop a fault in progress
• Securing unstable elements, such as cornices or plaster
• Interventions to counter water infiltration or flooding
• Legal acts protecting common parts against third parties
• Steps to interrupt limitation or forfeiture periods in defence of the condominium

The common thread is the conservatory purpose: it is not about improving or innovating, but about preserving what already exists, preventing inaction from turning a contained problem into serious damage.

When the manager acts without a resolution

The law grants the manager the power to perform these acts independently, without waiting for a decision by the meeting. The reason is practical: many conservatory interventions cannot tolerate the time needed to convene a meeting, because every delay worsens the damage. If a common pipe leaks and floods the cellars, the manager must act at once to stop the leak, without first having to gather the owners.

This autonomy is not unlimited: it concerns acts that are genuinely conservatory and proportionate to the situation. Beyond that threshold, the intervention enters the field of decisions reserved to the meeting.

The boundary with extraordinary maintenance

The most delicate point is distinguishing a conservatory act from extraordinary maintenance. Interventions involving significant expense or exceeding mere conservation, affecting the substance or value of the common parts, fall to the meeting, which must resolve them with the required majorities. Article 1135 of the Civil Code reserves extraordinary maintenance works and innovations to the meeting.

There is, however, a valve for urgency: the same Article 1135 allows the manager to order extraordinary maintenance works of an urgent nature, subject to the duty to report on them at the first meeting. In such cases the urgency legitimizes immediate intervention, but the manager must then account for the decision to the owners.

The duty to monitor the common parts

The duty to perform conservatory acts presupposes constant oversight of the building's condition. The manager must know the state of the common parts, monitor the systems, collect owners' reports and schedule the necessary checks. Only careful surveillance makes it possible to identify in time the situations that require a conservatory intervention, before they escalate. Neglect in this oversight may amount to a breach of the mandate's duties and ground liability for the resulting damage.

Documenting the intervention and reporting to the meeting

Even when acting independently, the manager must document the intervention: the nature of the problem, the urgency, the expense incurred and the outcome. This documentation is evidence of proper conduct and the basis for reporting. For urgent extraordinary maintenance works in particular, reporting to the first meeting is a filing expressly required by law. Transparency and traceability protect the manager from future disputes.

Managing maintenance and emergencies in an orderly way

The practical difficulty lies in keeping the condition of several buildings, the reports and the ongoing interventions under control, without losing sight of deadlines and costs. A management platform such as AmministraPro lets you record reports, plan system checks, track conservatory interventions and link them to the related expenses and communications, so you can report to the meeting with complete data; the features dedicated to maintenance and building management are described on /funzioni, while the plans for practices of different sizes are set out on /prezzi.