Architectural Barriers: Limits of Usability and Decorum

Works to remove architectural barriers enjoy reduced majorities and strong legal favour, but they are not a free pass for any intervention. Article 1120, final paragraph, of the Italian Civil Code sets three insurmountable limits: works cannot be carried out that make common parts unusable for the use of even a single owner, that impair the stability or safety of the building, or that seriously alter its architectural decorum. Understanding how these limits balance against the right to accessibility is decisive to avoid challengeable resolutions.

The ban on making common parts unusable

The most sensitive limit is unusability. A work that occupies common space, such as a lift in the stairwell or a ramp in the lobby, is allowed only if it does not deprive the other owners of the use of that part. A mere inconvenience or reduction of space is not enough: case law requires a tangible and concrete impairment of the common part's usefulness according to its original purpose. If after the installation the staircase remains passable and the lobby remains walkable, the work is lawful even if the space has shrunk.

The assessment is always concrete: what counts is the residual width useful for passage, respect for escape routes and the ability of everyone to continue using the common part. One person's right cannot cancel the others' rights, but neither can a minimal compression of use block accessibility.

Safety and stability of the building

No barrier-removal work may compromise the building's structural stability or create hazards. This means that interventions affecting load-bearing structures, masonry or stairwells require the assessment of a technician and compliance with fire-prevention and safety rules.

• Respect for the minimum width of escape routes and emergency exits
• Structural check when acting on structural or load-bearing elements
• Compliance of installed equipment with technical and safety rules
• No fixed or mobile obstacles that reduce emergency evacuation

Safety is a non-negotiable limit: unlike decorum, which allows balancing, a danger to people's safety can never be sacrificed to accessibility.

Architectural decorum

Architectural decorum is the overall aesthetic of the building, the harmony of its lines and of the elements that give it a unitary character. Accessibility works may alter it, but the limit is triggered only by a serious alteration, not by any change. Case law tends to let the right to accessibility prevail when the work is carried out with discreet and proportionate solutions, because it regards accessibility as a value of constitutional rank and social utility.

In practice, an external steel-and-glass lift or a well-designed ramp rarely constitute a serious alteration of decorum such as to justify a refusal, especially if they are the only feasible solution. Decorum cannot become a pretext to deny accessibility.

Balancing rights

When the limits come into tension with the right of the person with a disability, the judge carries out a balancing exercise. They check whether an alternative technical solution exists that achieves the same result with less sacrifice of the common parts or of decorum. If none exists, the right to accessibility prevails; if one exists, the least invasive solution must be chosen. This proportionality criterion is the key to guiding both resolutions and projects.

Consequences of exceeding the limits

A resolution authorising a work beyond these limits is voidable or void depending on the defect, and the owner who carries out alone an intervention that makes a common part unusable exposes themselves to a restoration action. This is why the design phase and the minuting are crucial: the assessment of the limits and the choice of solution must be documented.

Minuting the resolution, the majorities and the technical reasoning precisely helps to defend the decision. With AmministraPro the manager drafts complete minutes, handles communications and stores projects and technical opinions: the features are on /funzioni and the plans for managers and firms on /prezzi.