Managing condominium balances in a property sale

The payment certificate before the deed

Before the sale it is standard practice for the seller or notary to ask the manager for a certificate of the unit's payment status: instalments paid, any arrears and extraordinary expenses resolved but not yet collectible. This document serves to define who takes on what and to avoid surprises after the deed.

The certificate must be based on accounting data updated to the date. Stating precisely the advances paid, balances still owed and works resolved protects all parties and reduces internal disputes between seller and buyer.

• Instalments and advances already paid by the unit
• Balances or arrears still owed
• Extraordinary expenses resolved but not yet due

Joint liability towards the condominium

Towards the condominium, Article 63 of the implementing provisions makes buyer and seller jointly liable for the contributions relating to the current year and the previous one. This means the manager can request payment of arrears balances from both, to protect the condominium cash.

The seller is released from joint liability only when they deliver to the manager a certified copy of the title documenting the transfer. Until then, for the condominium, both remain co-obliged. It is a principle protecting the condominium, not a judgment on the internal relationship between the parties.

The moment of transfer and the charges

After the deed, the manager updates the condominium register with the new owner and the date of the change, as provided by Article 1130, number 6, of the Italian Civil Code. From that moment future instalments and charges are addressed to the new owner. The year-end charge, however, concerns a period that is often partly the seller's and partly the buyer's.

Example: a unit with a debit balance of 600 euros at year-end, sold in September. The condominium collects the 600 euros from the current owner so as not to leave the cash uncovered; the internal division of the share between the seller's months and the buyer's follows the agreement in the deed, unless otherwise stipulated.

• Update the register with new owner and date
• Address future instalments and charges to the new owner
• The internal division of the period follows the deed's agreement

Mistakes to avoid

The first mistake is updating the register late, continuing to send instalments and reminders to the seller who is no longer the owner, with confusion over balances. The second is charging the whole annual balancing charge to the buyer, ignoring the transfer date and generating an unfair request. The third is not keeping the transfer title, which is needed to release the seller from joint liability.

Watch out for credits too: if the seller closes in credit for a period before the sale, the refund is due to them, not to the buyer. Confusing the positions is a frequent source of complaints.

Keeping balances in order with software

A sale is a moment when the data must be impeccable: transfer dates, advances paid by each party, accrued balances. Software that preserves the unit's history lets you produce the payment certificate in a few clicks and address the charges to the correct party.

AmministraPro tracks owners, dates and movements, so the certificate and the balancing charge statements are always consistent with the change of ownership. The register and accounting features are on the /funzioni page and the plans on the /prezzi page.

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