The duty to act against defaulters within six months

A duty, not a mere option

The reform of condominium law aimed to hold the manager accountable in protecting the common fund. For this reason recovering unpaid contributions is not left to their free assessment but is framed as a duty with a precise term. The rationale is clear: to prevent credits against defaulters from ageing, becoming harder to recover and effectively loading their weight onto the other owners.

The six-month term runs from the closing of the fiscal year in which the credit is included. In practice, once the accounts are closed, the manager has a defined window to act on forced collection against those who have not paid the contributions of that fiscal year.

What acting for forced collection means

Acting for forced collection means starting the path that leads to an enforceable title, typically the payment order provided by Article 63, first paragraph. A further reminder is therefore not enough: the duty is fulfilled by activating the tools apt to obtain and then enforce a title against the defaulter.

It should be recalled that for the payment order the manager does not need meeting authorisation: they can request it based on the approved cost-sharing statement. This combination of the duty in Article 1129 and the autonomous standing in Article 63 makes recovery a task the manager must be able to carry out promptly and in an orderly way.

The meeting's exemption

The only exception to the duty is an express exemption by the owners' meeting. The owners can in fact decide, with a clear resolution, to exempt the manager from acting within six months, for example when a repayment negotiation is under way or when it is preferred to wait for reasons assessed by the meeting.

The exemption must, however, be explicit and minuted: it cannot be presumed from silence or inferred from inaction. In the absence of a meeting decision exempting them, the manager who does not act within the term is exposed to liability, because they are neglecting a task the law imposes for the protection of all.

The consequences of inaction

Failure to comply with the collection duty may amount to a serious irregularity in management, with possible consequences on the relationship between manager and condominium. Among the situations the law considers serious are precisely omissions in caring for the condominium's economic interests.

For the diligent manager, then, the message is practical: monitor arrears continuously, do not wait for the accounts to close to notice them, and act within the term or, alternatively, bring the matter to the meeting for an informed decision. The checklist below summarises the essential steps.

Checklist to avoid being caught unprepared

An orderly method allows the term to be met without last-minute stress and one's diligence to be documented.

• Monitor arrears throughout the fiscal year, not only once the accounts are approved.
• Identify, at the close of each fiscal year, the owners who remain in arrears for those contributions.
• Calculate the six-month deadline for each fiscal year with an unpaid credit.
• Activate forced recovery in time through the payment order, with the lawyer's assistance.
• If waiting is preferred, bring the matter to the meeting and obtain an express, minuted exemption.

Keeping deadlines and arrears under control

The most concrete risk is losing sight of the term because data on arrears is scattered across sheets and notes. A tool that updates each owner's position in real time and links each contribution to its fiscal year makes compliance with the duty much easier.

In AmministraPro the manager sees updated arrears together with the schedule and the accounting fiscal year, so they can identify in time the credits to recover within six months and prepare the file for the payment order. The monitoring and recovery management features, with their plans, are described on the /funzioni and /prezzi pages.

Frequently asked questions