Condominium expenses between empty and occupied units

Empty, vacant or unoccupied units are not exempt from condominium expenses. The owner of an unused apartment continues to pay all the costs of preserving the common parts based on thousandths (millesimi), because the right over the common parts is inseparable from ownership of the unit, as established by Article 1118 of the Italian Civil Code. Only expenses tied to the actual use of a service, such as some consumption shares, may be reduced in the absence of use, provided the service is metered individually.

The underlying principle: ownership, not use

An owner contributes to expenses by reason of ownership, not actual enjoyment. Whoever owns an apartment takes part in the condominium's economic life even if he does not live in it, does not rent it out or keeps it closed for years. Article 1118 of the Italian Civil Code makes clear that an owner cannot waive his right over the common parts to avoid paying expenses: holding the unit entails the duty to contribute.

This rule protects the balance of the whole building: the common parts must be preserved regardless of who uses them, and the costs of maintenance, insurance and management fall on all owners by thousandths.

Expenses always due even for the empty unit

The following remain entirely payable even by the vacant apartment, as they concern the preservation and management of common parts, regardless of use:

• Ordinary and extraordinary maintenance of common parts: roof, facade, stairs, courtyards.
• Building insurance and general management costs.
• The manager's fee and administrative costs.
• Maintenance of common systems, such as the lift's periodic inspections.
• Fixed shares of common services, such as the non-consumption part of central heating.

These items are independent of whether anyone is present in the unit: the building is preserved in any case and the owner owes his share.

Expenses that may vary with use

Some costs have a component tied to actual consumption and may be reduced for the unused unit, but only if the service is metered. This is the case for water with individual sub-meters, where you pay for what is actually consumed, or for central heating with heat metering.

Even here, however, the amount almost never reaches zero. For heating, for example, the rules distinguish the voluntary consumption share, tied to actual draw, from the fixed share covering system maintenance and common heat losses: the latter remains due even with the radiators off. A closed apartment therefore keeps paying the fixed part.

Detaching from central heating

An owner of an empty unit might think of detaching from the central system to avoid paying. Article 1118, final paragraph, of the Italian Civil Code allows detachment only if it causes no significant operating imbalances or extra costs for the other owners. Even with a lawful detachment, however, the owner remains bound to contribute to the costs of extraordinary maintenance and for the preservation and compliance upgrading of the system.

Detachment is therefore never a way to zero out costs: it removes only the consumption share, not the structural ones.

How the manager handles the mixed split

In a condominium with empty and occupied apartments, the manager applies the same scheme to everyone, distinguishing items by criterion: thousandths for preservation, consumption for metered services, fixed shares for the structural part of services. The empty unit is not a special case, but simply a unit that generates no individual consumption on certain items.

Disputes arise when the owner of the vacant unit claims exemptions that do not exist. It is the manager's job to explain, with figures in hand, which expenses depend on ownership and which on consumption, showing the calculation for each item.

A clear split reduces conflict

Transparently distinguishing fixed shares from consumption shares and showing each owner the detail of their own charge is the best way to prevent disputes over empty units. AmministraPro lets you set different allocation criteria for each expense item and produce readable statements for every owner. The features are described on the /funzioni page and the plans on the /prezzi page.