Common Laundry and Drying Room: Service Premises of a Condominium

Premises intended for laundry, drying and other shared services fall among the common parts of the building listed by Article 1117 of the Italian Civil Code. They are spaces intended, by their function, for collective enjoyment, and are therefore presumed to belong to all owners save for a contrary title. Each owner may use them while respecting the equal right of the others, and maintenance costs are divided on the basis of thousandths (millesimi).

Premises for common services in Article 1117

The rule includes among the common parts the premises for shared services, such as the concierge lodge, the caretaker's flat, the laundry, drying rooms and attics intended by their structural and functional characteristics for common use. These are spaces that do not serve a single unit, but the community of owners, offering a shared service. Their common nature derives from their purpose, crystallized at the moment the condominium comes into being.

Changing living habits have reduced the use of some of these premises, such as old common drying rooms, but their legal classification remains unchanged until a meeting decision lawfully changes their purpose.

How common premises are used

The use of common premises is governed by Article 1102 of the Civil Code: each owner may use them provided they do not alter their purpose and do not prevent equal use by others. In the common laundry, for example, it is not permitted to permanently install private equipment excluding the others, nor to turn the space into a personal storeroom. When simultaneous use is not possible, the meeting may regulate turn-based use, setting schedules or rotations.

• Each owner has the right to use the common laundry and drying room without excluding the others
• The meeting may regulate turn-based use when simultaneous use is impossible
• It is not permitted to permanently appropriate the premises or change their function for one's own benefit
• The condominium regulation may set use rules, schedules and access arrangements

Turn-based use is an arrangement that reconciles everyone's equal right with the limited capacity of the premises, and does not harm the co-ownership right provided it is regulated fairly.

Changing the purpose of the common premises

When a common-service room is no longer used, the meeting may decide to change its purpose, for example turning the former caretaker's flat into a meeting room, a storeroom or another shared use. Changing the intended use of a common part requires, however, a qualified majority, as provided by Article 1117-ter of the Civil Code, and compliance with specific convocation and publicity formalities. The resolution may not impair the stability or safety of the building nor alter its architectural decorum.

Different is the transfer or sale of the premises to a third party or a single owner, which affects the co-ownership right and requires the consent of all co-owners, being an act of disposal of the common asset.

Allocation of costs

The costs of maintenance, cleaning and conservation of premises for common services are divided on the basis of ownership thousandths, under Article 1123, first paragraph, of the Civil Code. If the service is intended to serve owners to different extents, or only some of them, the usage criterion or that of the partial condominium provided by the following paragraphs apply respectively. The cost of energy or water consumed in the common laundry follows the same allocation logic.

Orderly management of common services

Use rules, turns, minutes and costs of common premises must be documented clearly to prevent conflicts among owners. With software like AmministraPro the administrator archives the use regulation, the resolutions and the maintenance costs, charging them automatically to the correct tables and making them available to the owners. The features are described on the /funzioni page and the plans, with transparent costs, on the /prezzi page.