Proxies at condominium meetings: rules and limits

What article 67 actually requires

Article 67 of the implementing provisions of the Italian civil code allows any co-owner to be represented at the meeting by a delegate holding a written proxy. The proxy can be given to someone outside the condominium, unless the condominium bylaws expressly exclude this. If the delegating owner is a legal entity, the proxy must be granted to the individual identified by the entity's articles or bylaws.

The same provision introduces a quantitative cap designed to prevent a small number of delegates from concentrating disproportionate decision-making power: in condominiums with more than twenty co-owners, a single delegate cannot represent more than one fifth of the co-owners and one fifth of the building's total value in thousandths. The cap only applies above twenty units: smaller condominiums have no numeric ceiling on proxies collected by one person.

Who can and cannot hold a proxy

The property manager currently in office cannot receive voting proxies from owners for the meeting concerning their own management: the rationale is to prevent the person running the condominium from also steering decisions about their own performance through a stack of proxies. In practice a manager could theoretically vote by proxy on unrelated matters, but the safer and more common approach is to avoid this overlap of roles altogether.

Otherwise, a proxy can be given to another co-owner, a family member, a professional, or any third party, unless the bylaws specifically prohibit it. Good practice is for the proxy to clearly name the delegate and, where possible, include voting instructions on the most significant agenda items, reducing both discretion and the risk of later disputes.

Written form and what the document should contain

The proxy must be in writing: a verbal agreement or an informal message has no legal effect for participating in the meeting. The document should clearly state the delegating owner's name, the unit details, the delegate's name, the date, and the specific meeting the proxy refers to, along with a signature.

A few practical points worth checking before the meeting opens:

Checking at the chair's table: whoever chairs the meeting, usually a chairperson elected at the opening with the manager's assistance, should confirm each proxy is written, signed, and tied to the current meeting, not a previous or generic one without a reference date.

• Clear identification of both the delegating owner and the delegate
• A specific reference to the meeting notice and date
• A handwritten signature or, for digital channels, a system that reliably attributes it
• Optional binding voting instructions on individual agenda items
• Compliance with the one fifth cap once the condominium exceeds twenty owners

Managing proxies digitally: what changes in practice

More condominiums now handle meeting notices and communications digitally, and proxies follow the same path: many property managers accept a written, signed proxy submitted by email or through a dedicated owners' app, provided it remains a written document reliably attributable to the delegating owner, consistent with what article 67 requires. Written form does not necessarily mean paper: what matters is traceability and attribution of the signature.

A management platform like AmministraPro lets owners upload proxies into their reserved area, keeps them linked to the meeting notice, and helps reconstruct the quorum calculation in the minutes in an orderly way, reducing the risk of errors when adding up heads and thousandths represented by proxy. It remains the chair's responsibility to assess, case by case, whether a submitted proxy meets the legal form and limits.

Common mistakes that make a resolution challengeable

The most frequent mistakes are missing written form, generic proxies without a reference to the specific meeting, and above all failing to check the one fifth cap in condominiums with more than twenty owners: if a delegate collects more proxies than the law allows, the excess vote should not be counted, and if it was, the resolution can be challenged by anyone with standing to do so.

For this reason it helps to prepare, ahead of every meeting, a standard proxy form with all required fields and to run a precise check at the opening, verifying both the written form and compliance with the quantitative limits set by article 67.

Frequently asked questions