Partial condominium in Italy: what it is and how to manage it

A partial condominium is the situation that arises when an asset or a system in the building, because of its structural features and use, serves only some of the owners rather than the whole community. In these cases not all owners share in the ownership and the expenses of that asset, but only the group that draws benefit from it. A partial condominium needs no specific deed of establishment: it takes shape automatically by law, on the basis of article 1123, third paragraph, of the Italian Civil Code.

What article 1123 of the Civil Code says

The third paragraph of article 1123 states that where a building has several staircases, courtyards, roof terraces, structures or systems intended to serve only part of the whole building, the related expenses fall on the group of owners who draw benefit from them. This rule founds the concept: title and the burden of expenses follow the concrete usefulness of the asset, not mere membership of the building.

When a partial condominium arises

A partial condominium forms by operation of law, that is automatically, when the objective condition occurs: an asset intended by structure and function for the service or exclusive enjoyment of a limited portion of the building. No resolution of the meeting is needed to establish it, and no clause in the regulation. The objective purpose of the asset is enough.

Typical examples

• A staircase that serves only one of the two wings of the building.
• A lift connecting only certain floors or a single staircase.
• A courtyard or main door giving access to only one block.
• A roof terrace covering only part of the building.
• A heating system serving a group of units and not all of them.

How expenses are shared

The expenses of the asset in a partial condominium fall only on the owners who draw benefit from it, so that no one pays for goods or services they do not use. Within the group the split follows the ordinary criteria: normally by ownership thousandths, or, when the asset is intended to serve owners to a different extent, in proportion to the use each can make of it, under the second paragraph of article 1123. Owners unrelated to the asset stay entirely outside the allocation.

Who votes on the works

On works concerning an asset in a partial condominium, only the owners who are part of it are called to decide, that is those who bear the related expenses. Those who draw no benefit from the asset have no right to vote on those decisions and do not count toward the majorities. This prevents unrelated owners from influencing choices that do not concern them and that they do not fund.

How to keep the accounts

On the management side a partial condominium requires dedicated thousandth tables, distinct from the general ones, gathering only the units concerned with the asset. The accounts must isolate the expense items of each partial asset, so that allocations are clear and verifiable. Keeping general and partial expenses together without separation is one of the most frequent causes of contestable statements and disputes among owners.

It is not a separate condominium

A frequent misunderstanding is to think that a partial condominium is a condominium in its own right, with its own administrator, its own account and its own separate financial statement. That is not the case. A partial condominium remains part of the single condominium: there is one administrator, one general meeting and one overall financial statement. What changes is only the split of the expenses of that asset, which falls on the group of owners concerned, and the pool of voters on decisions relating to that asset. There is therefore no need to set up a distinct entity or open separate accounts in legal terms. Within the general statement the expenses of the partial asset are isolated in a dedicated management block, with its own thousandth table, but they stay inside the condominium's single accounting document. Confusing a partial condominium with a separate condominium often leads to management errors, such as calling unnecessary separate meetings or duplicating the administrative roles.

Benefits and mistakes to avoid

A partial condominium ensures fairness, because it ties the expense to the actual usefulness of the asset. The most common mistakes are splitting among everyone an expense that concerns only a group, letting unrelated owners vote on works of a partial asset and failing to prepare separate tables. Each of these flaws exposes the resolution and the allocation to challenge.

Managing a partial condominium with software

Management software lets you configure, for each common asset, the group of owners concerned, with dedicated thousandth tables and automatic allocations that exclude those who draw no benefit. AmministraPro lets you model a partial condominium, separate expenses per asset and generate statements consistent with article 1123 of the Civil Code. You can see how it works on the features page or compare the plans in the pricing section.