Chair and secretary of the Italian condominium meeting

The chair of the condominium meeting is the person who opens the session, checks that it is validly formed and directs proceedings through to the close. Together with the secretary, the chair forms the presiding office that guarantees order, impartiality and accurate minute taking. No provision of the Italian Civil Code expressly requires them to be appointed, but practice and case law treat them as essential for the formal validity of the session and for defending resolutions if they are later challenged.

Who appoints the chair of the condominium meeting

The chair is designated at the start of the meeting by the owners present, by a majority vote. The chair need not be an owner versed in law: what matters is being neutral and able to conduct the debate. The administrator, who calls the meeting, generally does not take the chair, precisely to keep the role of running the building separate from that of presiding over the session and certifying its outcomes. The designation is normally the first practical item of the meeting, before even entering the substance of the agenda, because without a chair to verify the quorums the meeting cannot even be said to be validly formed. The office lasts for the single session and does not carry over to later meetings: at each meeting a fresh designation is made.

A usufructuary or a tenant, in cases where they are entitled to vote, may in principle be designated too, provided they are present and accepted by the majority. What counts is not the title, but the ability to guarantee impartiality and respect for the rules of the meeting.

The chair's duties

The chair verifies that the meeting was properly convened and that the constitutive quorums are met, whether in person or by proxy. The chair checks the validity of proxies, gives the floor following the agenda, puts proposals to the vote and announces the results by counting both heads and thousandths (millesimi). At the end the chair signs the minutes together with the secretary.

• Verify the validity of the notice and the constitutive quorums.
• Check proxies and the voting rights of those present.
• Direct the discussion in line with the agenda.
• Put proposals to the vote and announce the result by heads and thousandths.
• Sign the minutes at the close of the session.

The secretary's role

The secretary is appointed in the same way as the chair and has the main task of drafting the minutes. They must record clearly and fully who is present, the items discussed, the proposals, the votes in favour, against and abstentions, with the corresponding thousandths. Often, though not necessarily, the role is performed by the administrator, who has the owner register and the tables at hand. Nothing prevents the secretary from being one of the owners or a technician present, provided they can faithfully report the course of the meeting.

The secretary holds no decision-making power: their function is documentary. For this very reason their precision is decisive, because the minutes they draft are the only written proof of what was decided. An inaccurate record of votes or thousandths can make the majority reached uncertain and open the way to challenges over the validity of the resolution.

What article 1136 of the Civil Code requires

The rules on forming and running the meeting rest on articles 1135 and 1136 of the Civil Code and on article 66 of its implementing provisions. Article 1136 sets the quorums: on first call the meeting is validly formed with a majority of participants representing two thirds of the building's value, while on second call one third of participants and one third of the value are enough. The chair applies exactly these thresholds to declare the session valid.

The minutes and the signatures

The minutes are the document that proves what was resolved and from which the thirty day period for a challenge by absent and dissenting owners begins. They must be drawn up during the meeting, read and approved before the close, then transcribed into the dedicated minutes register kept by the administrator. The joint signature of chair and secretary attests that they conform to what actually happened.

Mistakes to avoid

Minutes that are incomplete, without the voting thousandths or without distinguishing owners present in person from those by proxy, are the first foothold for anyone wanting to challenge a resolution. Other frequent errors are failing to check quorums, voting on items not on the agenda and not clearly announcing the outcome. An attentive chair and a precise secretary sharply reduce the risk of litigation.

Managing it with software

With condominium management software, minute taking becomes faster and more reliable: attendance, proxies and thousandths are already in the owner register, quorums are calculated automatically and the minutes start from a compliant template. AmministraPro assists the chair and secretary in running the meeting, from calculating quorums to drafting minutes with correct signatures and allocations. You can see how it works on the features page or compare the plans in the pricing section.