Ordinary vs Extraordinary Maintenance: the Manager's Powers

In a condominium, the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary maintenance is not merely technical: it decides who has the power to order the work. Ordinary maintenance falls within the manager's autonomous powers, arranged under Article 1130 of the Italian Civil Code and within the approved budget. Extraordinary maintenance, instead, requires the assembly resolution provided by Article 1135, save in the case of urgency. Correctly classifying the intervention is therefore the first step of sound management.

What ordinary maintenance is

Ordinary maintenance covers the recurring, predictable interventions that keep the common parts and services efficient, without altering their structure or purpose. These are routine works, often periodic, whose cost is plannable and fits into the annual budget. They include cleaning, small repairs, periodic system checks, and the replacement of components subject to wear.

What extraordinary maintenance is

Extraordinary maintenance covers non-recurring interventions of greater technical and economic significance, often unforeseeable, that materially affect the common parts. Redoing a façade, replacing the heating system, or the structural restoration of a floor slab or roof are typical examples. By their nature these works require a collective choice, weighing quotes, allocation criteria, and financing.

Criteria to tell the two apart

There is no exhaustive list: classification is done case by case, weighing several converging indicators.

• Recurrence: whether the work is periodic and predictable or exceptional
• Economic scale: contained and plannable cost or a significant one
• Technical impact: simple restoration or effect on structure or systems
• Predictability: part of normal management or unforeseen
• Purpose: keeping efficiency or substantially restoring or renewing

No single criterion is decisive. A periodic but very costly intervention, or a cheap but structural repair, calls for careful assessment. When in doubt, it is prudent to bring the decision to the meeting.

The manager's powers in ordinary maintenance

For ordinary management the manager acts autonomously. Approval of the management budget authorizes the recurring expenses in advance; the manager carries them out, chooses suppliers within any constraints in the regulations, and pays from condominium funds. No resolution is needed for each individual operation: the final statement lets the owners verify the manager's work.

The manager's powers in extraordinary maintenance

In extraordinary maintenance the manager does not decide: they prepare and propose. They gather comparative quotes, set out the options, submit the choice to the meeting, and, after the resolution, carry out what was decided. Article 1135 ordinarily requires setting up a special fund equal to the amount of the works. The only exception to the prior assembly step is urgency: if the extraordinary work cannot wait, the manager orders it and reports it to the first meeting.

Why classification also affects allocation and tax

The distinction has effects beyond decision-making powers. As between the seller and buyer of a unit, resolved extraordinary expenses follow rules different from ordinary ones. On the tax side, some extraordinary maintenance works on the common parts may open access to deductions not granted for ordinary maintenance. Classifying the intervention well from the start avoids a chain of errors on minutes, allocations, and certifications.

Documenting the choice and the classification

Recording in writing the classification of an intervention, with the quote and any technical opinion, protects the manager from challenges. A platform like AmministraPro lets you separate ordinary items from extraordinary ones, link each expense to the resolution that authorizes it, and produce allocations consistent with the nature of the work: the features are described on /funzioni, the plans for firms on /prezzi.