Booster Pumps and Water Lift: Cost Sharing in a Condo

The booster set is the system that pressurizes the water network when mains pressure is not enough to serve all floors; lift pumps carry water to rooftop tanks or raise wastewater where there is not enough gradient. They are common systems with two cost items: the electricity to run them and maintenance. Allocation follows the benefit criterion: if the system serves all units it is split by thousandths (millesimi), if it serves only part of the building it falls on the group served.

A common system serving the water supply

Article 1117 of the Italian Civil Code includes among common parts the water systems and installations intended for collective use. The booster set, storage tanks and pumps fall in this category when they serve several units. The cost of operation and conservation is therefore a condominium expense, but it must be attributed to those who draw a benefit from the system: this principle guides both the electricity share and ordinary and extraordinary maintenance.

When the booster serves only the upper floors

In many buildings mains pressure is enough for the lower floors, while the booster intervenes to push water to the upper ones. In these cases the system serves owners to a different degree: the upper floors draw a greater or exclusive benefit. The second paragraph of Article 1123 then applies, splitting the expense in proportion to use, or the third paragraph if only a group of units is actually served. Charging the booster to everyone by thousandths, in this scenario, would be unfair.

The electricity cost

Pumps draw electricity every time they run. This consumption is often the most significant item and must be split with the same benefit criterion as the system. If the booster serves everyone, consumption is split by thousandths; if it serves only the upper floors, it falls on that group. A dedicated meter for the system, where present, allows isolating the pumps' real consumption from other common utilities and splitting it precisely.

Ordinary and extraordinary maintenance

Booster maintenance includes ordinary work, such as checking gaskets, the pressure switch and the expansion vessel, and cleaning the tanks, and extraordinary work such as replacing the pump or the electrical panel. Ordinary work falls within the manager's conservation duties under Article 1130; replacing or rebuilding the system are extraordinary works that go through the owners' meeting. In both cases allocation follows the group served.

Items to distinguish in the report

• Electricity to run the pumps, allocated by benefit.
• Ordinary maintenance: gaskets, pressure switch, tank cleaning, periodic checks.
• Extraordinary maintenance: replacing pump, motor, electrical panel, expansion vessel.
• Analysis and potability of the stored water, where required.
• Regulatory upgrades to the system, approved by the owners' meeting.

Tanks and hygiene obligations

Where water is stored in tanks, periodic cleaning and sanitization are necessary to maintain potability and prevent contamination. These are ordinary expenses charged to the owners served by the system. Neglecting them exposes to hygiene risks and liability: scheduling the work and keeping its documentation is part of correctly managing the common water system. Here too the allocation criterion follows the benefit of the storage.

Assigning the expense to the right group

The complexity comes from having to identify who is served by the system and apply the correct criterion to each item, year after year. Management software lets you create an allocation table dedicated to the booster, with only the owners served and their weights, and generate installments without errors. With AmministraPro you assign the water system's energy and maintenance to the right group and produce a transparent report: the allocation features are described on the /funzioni page and the plans on the /prezzi page.