Practical guide
Managing intercom maintenance in a condominium
The intercom is a shared system serving all owners, and its upkeep falls within the property manager's ordinary duties. When it stops working, fully or partially, the first step is to tell apart a localized fault that can simply be repaired from an obsolete system that is better replaced, often with a video intercom. That distinction drives which procedure applies, who decides on the work, and how the cost is split among owners. Anyone adding cameras or video units must also meet the transparency duties that data protection rules impose toward residents and visitors. Keeping reports, quotes and resolutions organized, as AmministraPro allows, shortens response times and reduces disputes among owners.
Fault or replacement: telling the two apart
An intercom that stops ringing in a single unit, while the others work fine, is almost always a localized fault: a corroded button, a broken wire, or a single unit's power supply that needs replacing. This is ordinary maintenance of the shared system, which the property manager can arrange directly within the scope of ordinary management, without convening a meeting.
The picture changes when an aging system shows recurring faults across several units, a control panel that can no longer be repaired because spare parts are unavailable, or wiring deteriorated at multiple points of the building. This counts as an improvement, or in any case work that goes beyond ordinary administration, and the decision belongs to the owners' meeting, approved with the majority required for works on shared systems.
Upgrading to a video intercom: an increasingly common choice
When the old system needs rebuilding anyway, many buildings take the opportunity to move to a video intercom, which adds a live picture of whoever rings and, in most cases, the option to open the entrance door from a smartphone app through a bridge with the control unit. This is not a legal requirement but an improvement that the meeting can evaluate like any other work on shared parts.
Before voting, it is worth collecting at least two or three comparable quotes, making sure they cover the same scope: number of indoor stations, an electric lock for the entrance door if wanted, and any masonry work needed to run new cabling where the old system was not set up for it. The property manager presents the quotes at the meeting together with a proposed cost allocation.
Splitting the cost among owners
The intercom, as a system that serves every unit in the same way, is allocated based on each owner's general ownership share, the ordinary criterion applied to shared parts: the cost is proportional to the value of each unit's ownership, not to the number of handsets installed inside a single apartment.
An exception applies to a repair affecting only the indoor handset of a single unit, for instance replacing one owner's worn handset: that cost can fall on that owner alone, while the control panel, the riser cable and the shared wiring remain a common expense for everyone.
In a multi-building complex served by a single centralized intercom system, the cost is split across the ownership shares of the whole complex, not of the individual building: a point the property manager needs to keep in mind when setting up the allocation plan.
Privacy in video intercoms: what data protection rules require
If the new system includes a camera filming the building entrance, the owners' meeting becomes the data controller for the footage collected and must respect data protection principles: a visible notice at the entrance disclosing the camera, a field of view limited to the area actually needed without unnecessarily capturing the public street or neighbouring properties, and access to the footage restricted to those who genuinely need it.
The property manager does well to keep the meeting resolution that authorized the installation together with the notice on display, so both can be produced if an owner or the supervisory authority asks.
The property manager's role in day-to-day handling
A significant part of the job is keeping fault reports from owners organized, tracking when the maintenance contractor stepped in, retaining the compared quotes for a replacement, and documenting the resolution through which the meeting approved the expense and its allocation.
With AmministraPro, owners' reports, the attached quotes and the resolution approving the work stay linked within the same digital building file, so every step, from the reported fault to the cost allocation in the accounts, can be reconstructed in a few clicks even years later.
Frequently asked questions
Can the property manager have the intercom repaired without convening a meeting?
Yes, when it is ordinary maintenance of an existing system, such as fixing a localized fault: this falls within the conservatory acts the property manager can carry out directly under ordinary management powers. A meeting resolution is instead required when the work amounts to a genuine improvement, such as fully replacing the system with a video intercom, or when the cost exceeds the ordinary powers set out in the building's regulations.
How is the cost of a new video intercom split among owners?
The ordinary criterion applies: the cost is divided according to each unit's general ownership share, because the intercom serves every owner in the same way regardless of floor or household size. An exception applies to repairing the indoor handset of a single unit for a fault specific to that unit, which can remain that owner's own expense.
Does a video intercom with a camera require specific privacy steps?
Yes. The meeting that approves the installation becomes the controller for the data the camera collects and must follow data protection principles: a visible notice at the entrance, a field of view limited to what is genuinely needed without unnecessarily capturing the public street or neighbouring properties, and footage access restricted to those who truly need it. It is good practice to keep the resolution together with the notice on display.
What if the intercom is faulty in only one apartment while the others work fine?
The cause needs checking: if the fault lies only in that owner's indoor handset, for instance due to wear, the repair can remain that owner's expense. If instead it stems from a problem on the riser cable or shared wiring that also serves that unit, it counts as maintenance of the shared system and the cost follows the ordinary ownership-share criterion, split among all owners.
How are fault reports and intercom resolutions handled in practice?
The property manager needs to keep an organized record of every report received from owners, the quotes gathered for any significant work, and the meeting resolution approving the expense and its allocation. With software like AmministraPro these elements stay linked within the same building file, so it remains possible to reconstruct, even after time has passed, who decided what and how the cost was allocated.
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