Ten-year retention of condominium accounting documents

Article 1130-bis of the Italian Civil Code establishes that the records and supporting documents of condominium accounting must be kept for ten years from the date of their registration. This is not a mere formality: long retention ensures that the management remains verifiable over time, allowing the owners, the incoming manager and, where necessary, the judicial authority to reconstruct the accounts even years later. Here is which documents it covers, how to organise them and what happens when the manager changes.

Why ten years

The ten-year term is not arbitrary: it matches the ordinary limitation period set by the Italian Civil Code for rights in general. Keeping documents for ten years means being able to prove or contest an accounting item for as long as that right or obligation can still be enforced. A supporting document, a payment to a supplier or the charging of an instalment to an owner can be subject to review within that span, and without the document the position becomes indefensible.

Which documents must be kept

The duty concerns the accounting records and the supporting documents, that is everything that backs the entries of the report. In practice the ten-year archive includes the documents below.

• Accounting registers and approved financial reports.
• Invoices, receipts and supplier expense notes.
• Statements of the condominium bank account.
• Contracts with suppliers, contractors and maintenance firms.
• Meeting minutes and allocation statements.
• Tax documentation, such as withholdings and certifications.

The term runs from the date of registration

The ten-year term runs from the date of the relevant registration, not from the end of the financial year nor from the date of the document. Each entry therefore has its own independent term. In practice the manager must keep a rolling archive: documents older than ten years from their registration may be discarded, while more recent ones remain bound. Tracking the registration date of each document is essential to manage disposal correctly.

Paper and digital retention

The law does not require a specific medium. Documents may be kept in paper or digital form, provided they remain legible, intact and retrievable throughout the ten years. Digital retention offers significant practical advantages: it reduces physical space, protects against material damage such as flooding or fire, and makes finding a supporting document immediate. When choosing digital, it is important to ensure backups and continuity of access to the files, so the archive is not lost to a failure.

The handover to the new manager

When the appointment ends, whether by expiry, resignation or revocation, the outgoing manager must hand over all the documentation in their possession to the new manager or to the meeting. It is a delicate step: without a complete handover, the incoming manager cannot reconstruct the management nor comply in turn with the retention duty. A missing or incomplete handover is a serious breach and can give rise to liability. It is good practice to record the handover in minutes with a detailed list of what is transferred.

What the manager who fails to keep documents risks

A manager who does not keep the documents or hand them over to the successor fails a legal duty. The practical consequences are serious: inability to document contested expenses, difficulty defending in a dispute, and the emergence of a serious irregularity that can justify revocation of the appointment. Orderly retention is therefore not only compliance but a safeguard for the manager, who through the documents proves the correctness of their conduct.

A digital archive with management software

Managing a ten-year archive by hand, made of folders and different deadlines for each document, is complex and risky. Management software keeps supporting documents in digital form linked to each movement, tracks the registration date and makes searching and exporting immediate, even ahead of a handover. The archive stays orderly and retrievable for the whole required period.

AmministraPro securely archives accounting documents by linking them to movements and reports, with full export for the handover to the new manager. You can see how it works on the features page or review the plans in the pricing section.