Mismanaged condominium account: the manager's risk

A condominium manager who negligently manages the condominium's bank account is exposed to removal and liability. Article 1129 of the Italian Civil Code requires the manager to route the condominium's monies through a specific account, held in the name of the condominium itself and separate from any other. Mixing the condominium's funds with one's own, not using the dedicated account or making movements opaque is a serious irregularity in management, as well as a breach of the agent's duty of diligence.

The duty of a dedicated bank account

The law requires the manager to route the condominium's income and expenditure through a bank or postal account held in the name of the condominium. The aim is twofold: to separate the condominium's assets from those of the manager and of other condominiums managed by them, and to allow each owner to check the movements. The contributions paid by owners must flow into the dedicated account, and payments of common expenses must leave from it. The account is the mirror of the management: its transparency is the first guarantee for owners.

Owners' right to check the movements

Each owner has the right to ask to inspect and take copies, at their own expense, of the periodic statement relating to the condominium's bank account. This right makes the account a document open to control, not an area reserved to the manager. Denying access, providing partial statements or refusing to show the movements contradicts the very function of the dedicated account and fuels suspicion of improper management.

The most serious negligent conduct

• Failure to open the dedicated account or use of the manager's personal account.
• Payment of contributions from several condominiums into a single undivided account.
• Unjustified withdrawals or payments without a title and document.
• Bank balance not matching the one shown in the accounts.
• Refusal to hand over account statements to owners who request them.

Mixing of assets and misappropriation

Mixing the condominium's money with the manager's is among the most insidious irregularities. Even without any intent of misappropriation, promiscuous use of funds prevents the management from being reconstructed and can conceal shortfalls. When the manager then uses the condominium's monies for their own ends, the ground shifts from mere negligence to the more serious wrongdoing, with consequences that are not only civil. Rigorous separation of assets is therefore the line of defence that also protects the honest manager from unfounded accusations.

The consequences: removal and compensation

Irregular management of the account is expressly considered by Article 1129 among the conduct that justifies removal of the manager, including judicially on the application of a single owner. On the compensation side, the manager is liable for the loss arising from poor management of the funds, for example the interest accrued on unjustified overdrafts, sums not recovered or costs incurred to reconstruct confused accounts. The agent's duty of diligence, under Articles 1176 and 1710 of the Italian Civil Code, measures the gravity of the conduct.

Transparent and traceable management

The golden rule is constant correspondence between account and accounts. Every movement on the dedicated account must have a counterpart in the records and a document justifying it, and the bank balance must match the accounting balance at each reconciliation. Keeping each condominium's funds separate, avoiding cash beyond the strictly necessary and keeping the account statements are practices that make the management verifiable at all times and reduce to zero the room for well-founded disputes.

With AmministraPro the manager keeps each condominium's accounts separate, reconciles the balances with the account statements and provides owners with a clear statement of the movements. The features are described on the /funzioni page and the plans on the /prezzi page.