Practical guide
Defaulting owners and privacy: what you can disclose
Handling defaulting owners is one of the points where privacy and debt recovery most often collide. The condominium has a legitimate interest in collecting the fees, but the indebted owner keeps the right to privacy over their data and financial situation. The practical rule is clear: data about arrears may circulate only among those with a qualified interest in knowing it, namely the other owners as part of management, and cannot be made public. Posting the list on the notice board or disclosing it to unrelated third parties is unlawful, and the Italian Supreme Court has already recognised the manager's liability in such cases.
The ban on posting on the notice board
Displaying the defaulter's name and the amount owed on the notice board is the most common and, at the same time, the riskiest approach. The notice board is accessible to suppliers, visitors and passers-by, so the disclosure goes beyond the audience entitled to know the data. It is a communication to an indeterminate group that exposes the debtor to public judgement not justified by the recovery purpose.
Case law has ordered managers who posted such lists to pay damages to the owner. The same applies to emails sent with all recipients in visible copy, or to messages in groups open to people unrelated to the condominium.
What the other owners are allowed to know
Article 1130 of the Italian Civil Code requires the manager to keep the accounts and make them accessible. The other owners have a qualified interest in knowing the state of payments, because one person's arrears affect the cost allocation and the common fund. For this reason disclosing the names to owners only, within the annual accounts or the meeting, is considered lawful.
The communication must, however, remain selective. It must be addressed to owners and not to third parties, be limited to the data needed for management, and be avoided when outsiders are present at the meeting. In the annual accounts, the status of receivables from individuals is a legitimate part of the accounting documentation that every owner may consult.
- Yes to names in the annual accounts and in accounting documents owners can consult
- Yes to communication at the meeting among owners only
- No to posting on the notice board or in spaces accessible to third parties
- No to sending with recipients in visible copy or to groups with outsiders
Disclosure to the lawyer and other parties involved
When recovery moves to legal channels, the manager may and must disclose the defaulter's data to the professional appointed for debt recovery. This disclosure does not breach privacy because it is necessary to pursue the condominium's legitimate interest and involves a person who is in turn bound to confidentiality.
The situation is different for disclosure to uninvolved parties, such as the debtor's employer, other suppliers or unrelated neighbours. Here any legal basis is missing and the disclosure is unlawful. The guiding criterion is always necessity: disclose only to those who need it, only what they need.
How to handle arrears in a traceable way
The best defence against disputes is traceability: knowing at all times to whom a given piece of data was disclosed and for what purpose. Individual reminders addressed to the single debtor, through a private channel, are always preferable to any collective communication.
A platform such as AmministraPro lets you send targeted reminders to the single owner, manage the payment schedule and share the annual accounts through personal access, reducing the risk of undue disclosure. The features are shown on the /funzioni page and the plans on the /prezzi page.
Frequently asked questions
Can I post the list of defaulters on the notice board?
No. The notice board is accessible to third parties unrelated to the condominium, so posting the names with the amounts owed is an unlawful disclosure. The Italian Supreme Court has recognised the owner's right to damages in such cases. Arrears must be handled through selective communications to those entitled only.
Can the other owners know who is in arrears?
Yes, within limits. Owners have a qualified interest in knowing the state of payments because arrears affect common management. The communication is lawful if it takes place in the annual accounts or at the meeting among owners only, remains necessary and proportionate, and is not extended to unrelated parties.
Does disclosing the defaulter's data to the lawyer breach privacy?
No. Providing the debtor's data to the professional appointed for debt recovery is lawful, because the disclosure is necessary to pursue the condominium's legitimate interest in collecting. The lawyer is in turn bound to confidentiality. Only what is needed for recovery should be disclosed.
Can I email everyone with the list of defaulters?
An email with recipients in visible copy, or with the list attached to a group open to outsiders, is risky. If you must communicate the state of payments to owners, a private and individual channel is preferable. Reminders, in any case, should be addressed to the single debtor and not distributed collectively.
Try AmministraPro
Accounting, thousandths-based cost splitting, meetings, communications and artificial intelligence in a single Italian software, compliant with UNI 10801 and GDPR.