Practical guide
Managing a condominium with many rented units
In buildings where a large share of units are rented out, the property manager has to operate on two parallel tracks: the owner, who remains the only party responsible toward the condominium, and the tenant, who actually lives in the unit and often reports problems first. Under Italian law (legge 392/1978 on lease charges), the owner must inform the tenant in writing of the manager's details, while the split of costs between owner and tenant remains a private matter governed by the lease. This guide explains how to organize accounting, communications and collections when tenants make up a large part of the building, avoiding payment delays and confusion over who should receive which notice.
Service charges: what stays with the owner and what can be passed to the tenant
The condominium bills the owner of the unit, never the tenant directly: the relationship with the building is always between the manager and the owning member, regardless of who actually occupies the apartment. It is the lease agreement, governed by law 392/1978, that determines which service charges the landlord can pass on to the tenant, typically stairwell cleaning, elevator, common area electricity, water and centralized heating, while extraordinary maintenance costs remain with the owner.
For a manager overseeing dozens of rented units, it helps to keep the condominium statement broken down by expense category so each owner can extract what applies to their tenant without rebuilding the accounts from scratch. A platform like AmministraPro can generate statements with a full breakdown by expense category and export the reports an owner can hand to their tenant to support the charge-back.
Who receives communications: owner, tenant, or both
Article 10 of law 392/1978 gives the tenant the right to attend, without voting rights, meetings concerning shared service expenses and management, heating included, and to challenge the related resolutions. The owner must inform the manager of the tenant's name so they can be invited for those specific items, but the condominium relationship remains with the owner, who receives meeting notices, minutes and payment requests.
When tenants change frequently, as happens in buildings with high turnover from short-term or holiday lets, the manager risks working from outdated records: notices sent to tenants who have already moved out, or owners who are hard to reach because they live elsewhere. A platform that keeps owner and tenant profiles separate, with the ability to update who currently occupies a unit quickly, reduces the risk of lost communications and lets the manager track who actually received a given notice.
Collecting payments when the owner does not live in the building
An owner who rents out their unit often does not live in the condominium and may not notice a paper reminder left in the mailbox right away. For these buildings it is worth favoring trackable digital channels, read-receipt emails or an online area where the owner can check balance and due dates remotely, regardless of where they are.
It also helps to stage reminders: an automatic first notice at the due date, a more formal second notice after a reasonable period of non-payment, before considering the collection tools provided under the implementing provisions of the Italian civil code. Automating these steps with a management platform prevents delays from silently piling up across dozens of separate units.
Organizing records when rented units are the majority
In buildings with a large share of rented second homes, keeping the members' register up to date under article 1130 of the Italian civil code becomes more demanding: it must record the owner's details, the unit's land registry data and, where relevant to condominium matters, the tenant's name. Handling this data must respect the GDPR principles of data minimization and lawfulness, limiting access to those who genuinely need it.
A management platform built for condominium administration, such as AmministraPro, lets each unit be linked to its owner and, where needed, to the tenant's details, keeping a single consistent record from which to generate statements, communications and reminders without duplicating data across separate spreadsheets.
Frequently asked questions
Can the condominium bill the tenant directly for expenses?
No. The condominium relationship exists only between the manager and the owner of the unit, who remains the sole party obligated to the condominium for payment of installments. The lease agreement then governs how service charges are passed on from owner to tenant, under law 392/1978: a private arrangement that does not change who is responsible toward the condominium.
Can a tenant attend the condominium assembly?
Article 10 of law 392/1978 gives the tenant the right to attend, without voting rights, meetings concerning shared service expenses and management, including heating, and to challenge the related resolutions. For all other matters, the invitation and the vote remain the owner's prerogative, since the owner is the actual condominium member.
How do you avoid sending notices to tenants who have already moved out?
You need records that stay current, linking each unit to its owner and, where relevant, to the current tenant, with the ability to update that information quickly whenever a lease changes. A platform that keeps owner and tenant profiles separate, like AmministraPro, lets you update the occupant without losing the history of communications already sent.
What if the owner of a rented unit is hard to reach for payment reminders?
It helps to favor trackable channels, read-receipt emails or an online area accessible remotely, and to stage reminders with increasingly formal tone before turning to the collection tools set out in the implementing provisions of the civil code. A management platform that automates reminders at the due date reduces the risk of delays going unnoticed across many units at once.
Is it mandatory to record the tenant's details in the condominium members' register?
Article 1130 of the Italian civil code requires the manager to keep a register with owners' personal details and each unit's land registry data; the tenant's name should be recorded when relevant to condominium management, for instance for the meeting notices required under law 392/1978. Handling this data must still respect GDPR's minimization principle, limiting access to those who genuinely need it.
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