Unit Under Property Leasing: Who Votes at the Meeting

In property leasing the ownership of the unit belongs to the lessor company, while the user has possession and enjoyment under the contract, with a final purchase option. For condominium purposes the voting right is tied to ownership: until the purchase option is exercised, formal title remains with the leasing company, which is the owner for all purposes. The contract and practice, however, often govern in a practical way who deals with the condominium, so it helps to distinguish ownership of the right from its concrete exercise.

Who is the owner under leasing

Property leasing is a contract whereby the lessor company buys or has a property built and grants its use to the user for a fixed period, in return for instalments, with the option to acquire ownership at the end by exercising the purchase option. Throughout the term of the contract ownership stays with the lessor company. Only upon exercise of the option does ownership pass to the user, who from that moment becomes a full owner, with a voting right of their own.

The voting right during the lease

Since the right to attend and vote at the meeting follows ownership, during the lease formal standing belongs to the lessor company. In practice, however, it is common for the company, which has limited management interest in the property, to authorise the user to attend the meeting by written proxy, or for the leasing contract to expressly provide that the user handles relations with the condominium. In these cases the user attends and votes on the strength of a proxy, within the quantitative limits set by Article 67 of the implementing provisions of the Italian Civil Code.

The analogy with the tenant for services

The position of the leasing user is similar to that of a tenant, because both enjoy the property without owning it. For the tenant the law recognises, in certain matters linked to the services they use, a role of participation in the meeting. Applying similar logic by analogy to the leasing user is a matter to assess case by case and also depends on how the contract allocates tasks. In any event, for decisions affecting ownership and for improvements, the reference position remains that of the owner, that is the lessor company.

Allocation of expenses

On the cost side, the leasing contract governs who bears the condominium expenses. Typically:

• Ordinary management expenses and those linked to use of the property are generally placed on the user, who enjoys the asset
• Extraordinary and capital-related expenses may stay within the owner's sphere, subject to any different contractual agreement
• Towards the condominium the owner company remains the formally liable party as owner, subject to the internal agreements with the user
• The internal allocation between lessor and user does not change the statutory allocation criteria towards the condominium set by Articles 1123 and following

It should be remembered that agreements between lessor and user take effect between the parties, but do not automatically shift towards the condominium the ownership of obligations that the law ties to ownership.

What the manager must check

Faced with a leased unit, the manager must clearly identify the formal owner and the source of any standing of the user to vote. In concrete terms it is advisable to obtain a copy of the proxy issued by the lessor company, or the part of the leasing contract giving the user the task of representing the unit at the meeting. Absent a title, the user cannot vote in their own name, because they are not the owner. Noting in the minutes the source of standing avoids disputes over quorums.

After the purchase option

Once the purchase option is exercised and ownership transferred, the user becomes a full owner, with a voting right of their own and a duty to contribute to expenses according to the thousandths. From that moment any need for a proxy from the lessor company ceases. The change must be notified to the manager, who updates the condominium register and directs notices and payment requests to the new owner, as in any sale.

Precisely recording the ownership of units, the proxies and the transitions from leasing to ownership is essential for calculating correct quorums. A management system such as AmministraPro lets you distinguish owner and holder, store proxies and update the register at the time of the purchase option, so as to manage leased units too without errors. The features are described on the funzioni page and the plans on the prezzi page.