Paying Suppliers: How the Condominium Sets Priorities

When the condominium's liquidity is not enough to cover all outflows, the manager must set an order for paying suppliers. There is no ranking fixed by law, but sound-management criteria that require giving precedence to non-deferrable expenses and to services whose interruption would harm the community, while respecting the earmarking of funds. The choice must be justified, documented, and reported to the owners' meeting, because the manager answers for the diligence with which they manage the common account.

No statutory ranking, but a duty of diligence

The Italian Civil Code does not establish an order of priority among the condominium's creditors. The manager, however, must handle common money with the diligence of an agent and ensure compliance with the by-laws and the preservation of common areas, under Article 1130 of the Italian Civil Code. From these duties comes the guiding criterion: favour payments whose omission would cause immediate harm or the interruption of an essential service.

Substantive priorities

In the absence of formal rules, correct practice ranks payments by urgency and essential nature. Some outflows tolerate no delay because suspending them would paralyse condominium life or trigger liability.

• Essential utilities for common services, such as electricity for the lift, water booster pump, and lighting, whose cut-off would stop indispensable systems
• Safety and mandatory maintenance contracts, such as periodic checks of the lift or fire-safety systems
• Urgent works to protect safety and to prevent aggravated damage
• Obligations with tax or contribution deadlines, to avoid penalties falling on the condominium

Restricted funds are off limits

One unbreakable principle concerns funds with a specific purpose. Sums collected for a resolved extraordinary work, or set aside as a special fund for works, cannot be diverted to pay ordinary expenses or suppliers other than those to whom the fund is earmarked. Diverting restricted resources means violating the will of the meeting and may amount to disloyal management. Likewise, one condominium's funds may never serve to pay the debts of another managed by the same person.

The dedicated account makes cash readable

The requirement of a bank account in the condominium's name, set out in Article 1129 of the Italian Civil Code, is no formality: it is the tool that lets the manager read the real availability at any moment and avoid mixing separate managements. Only with a dedicated account can the manager honestly determine which payments the cash can sustain and which must be postponed, and prove to the meeting that the choices were consistent with the available resources.

What to do when cash is structurally insufficient

If the problem is not a momentary delay but a structural imbalance, the solution is not to choose endlessly whom to pay, but to replenish the funds. The manager must act to recover claims against defaulting owners, propose an extraordinary allocation to the meeting, and, if needed, a repayment plan agreed with suppliers. Continuing to pay on rotation without addressing the cause of the deficit solves nothing and fuels the risk of payment orders and enforcement actions.

• Check the real availability on the dedicated account before every payment
• Give priority to essential services, safety, and penalty-bearing deadlines
• Never touch funds earmarked for specific works
• Chase defaulters and propose an extraordinary allocation if the deficit is structural
• Document payment choices and report them to the meeting

How software supports cash decisions

Deciding on payment priority requires a clear view of balance, deadlines, and fund earmarking. Software that shows the cash position in real time, highlights outflows falling due, and keeps restricted funds separate enables quick and defensible choices. AmministraPro offers an orderly view of liquidity and the supplier deadline schedule for each condominium: the financial management tools are described on the /funzioni page, while plans and costs are on the /prezzi page.