Features & tools
Insurance and claims management in a condominium
Condominium insurance, almost always a global building policy, covers fire, explosion, weather events, third party liability and, depending on the limits set by the assembly, water damage claims from third parties. When a claim occurs, from a burst riser pipe to a leak from the roof terrace, the property manager has to open the file, gather evidence, deal with the insurer's surveyor, and then allocate any uncovered deductible among the owners. This process touches the technical side of the building, the accounting side of the budget, and the documentary side of the relationship with the insurer at the same time: if the steps are not tracked, the condominium risks losing the payout for a late claim report or arguing over the allocation for months.
The global building policy and what it actually covers
The global building policy is the standard tool chosen by condominium assemblies: in a single cover it bundles fire and explosion, weather events, third party liability for damage caused by common areas to people or property, and often also liability toward people working in the building, such as the doorman or maintenance contractors.
Not all policies are equal: limits, deductibles and exclusions vary considerably, and the choice must be approved by the assembly with the majority required for ordinary management expenses when renewing an existing cover, or the higher majority required for innovations when a policy is introduced for the first time or its guarantees are substantially extended. Under Italian civil code article 1130, the property manager is responsible for keeping policy documentation up to date and making it available to owners who request it.
Reporting a claim: deadlines and steps that cannot be skipped
Italian civil code article 1913 sets a three day deadline from the moment the claim becomes known to report it to the insurer, unless the policy sets a different term. For the property manager this means acting as soon as damage is reported, without waiting for the next assembly meeting or a definitive quote from a technician.
- Collect photos and a description of the damage as soon as it is reported, before the evidence is removed or the area is cleaned
- File the claim with the insurer within the policy deadline, indicating the date, the dynamics and the common areas involved
- Arrange the surveyor's inspection and keep the survey report
- Track every communication with the insurer, the broker and the affected owners in a single folder
- Keep quotes, invoices for the repair work and the final settlement received
Allocating the deductible among the owners
When the payout does not cover the full damage because of the contractual deductible, the uncovered portion is allocated among the owners according to the same criteria applied to the expense the claim generated: general ownership shares for damage to common areas serving the whole building, or the shares of the specific staircase or building block if the damage concerns a common area limited to a group of owners, as set out in article 1123 of the Italian civil code. If the damage originates from a private unit, for example a plumbing leak from one owner's apartment that spreads to the units below, liability and the related allocation follow the rules of civil liability rather than those of ordinary condominium expenses.
The deductible often becomes a point of discussion in the assembly, especially when the damage affected owners unevenly: a clear survey report and a well reasoned allocation note reduce the risk of later challenges.
The documentation required, and why it must stay organized
Every claim generates a file the property manager should be able to produce at any time: the current policy, the claim report, correspondence with the surveyor, quotes, invoices, the settlement and the assembly resolution on the allocation. This documentation matters not only for transparency toward owners, required under article 1129 of the Italian civil code on the duty to report, but also in case of a later handover to a new property manager or a dispute with the insurer over the adequacy of the settlement.
With AmministraPro, the property manager can link the active policy and its expiry dates to each building, open a claim record connected to the resulting extraordinary expenses, attach the documents received from the insurer, and generate the allocation among owners consistent with the ownership shares already on file, keeping everything tracked in the same system used for the budget and assembly communications.
Frequently asked questions
Who decides which insurance policy to take out for the building?
The decision belongs to the assembly of owners, which votes on the property manager's proposal with the majority required for ordinary management expenses when renewing an existing cover, or the higher majority required for innovations when a policy is introduced for the first time or its guarantees are substantially widened. The property manager is responsible for collecting quotes, presenting them to the assembly with their differences in limits and deductibles, and carrying out the approved resolution.
What happens if the property manager does not report the claim within the policy deadline?
Italian civil code article 1913 sets a three day deadline from the moment the claim becomes known, unless the policy itself sets a more specific term, which should always be checked case by case. A late report can lead the insurer to reduce or deny the payout, and exposes the property manager to potential liability toward the condominium for the resulting loss of coverage. The correct practice is to open the claim file as soon as the damage is reported, without waiting for the next assembly meeting.
How is the deductible allocated when the damage affects only some owners?
The allocation follows the same criterion applied to the expense the damage generated: if the damaged common area serves the whole building, general ownership shares are used; if it serves only one staircase or building block within a complex, the shares of that staircase or block are used, under article 1123 of the Italian civil code. When the damage instead originates from a private unit and spreads to other units, it is not a matter of condominium expense allocation but of civil liability between the parties involved, to be assessed case by case, often with the help of the insurance surveyor.
Does the property manager have to show the policy to owners who ask for it?
Yes. Article 1130 of the Italian civil code requires the property manager to keep transparent and documented records of condominium affairs, and the insurance policy is among the documents any owner can review, particularly ahead of the assembly meeting that votes on its renewal or replacement. Keeping the policy together with other extraordinary expenses in the same digital archive, as AmministraPro allows, makes this review immediate without repeated requests to the office.
Why is it better to manage a claim file in software rather than on paper?
A claim involves several parties over time, the insurer, the surveyor, the contractor carrying out the repair work, and the owners who need to approve the allocation, and paper documentation is easily lost across handovers and changes of management office. Keeping the policy, the claim report, correspondence, quotes and the allocation resolution in the same system used for the budget, as in AmministraPro, makes it possible to find the status of the file in an instant even months later, which is often decisive if the insurer requests additional documents to complete the settlement.
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