Notice period: the five days before the owners' meeting

What Article 66 says about the period

Article 66 of the implementing provisions of the Italian Civil Code, as reformed by Law 220 of 2012, provides that the notice of meeting containing the agenda must be communicated at least five days before the date set for the first call. The rule protects the owner's right to be informed in good time to examine the items, gather documents and, if needed, appoint a proxy.

The five-day period is a legal minimum. The condominium rules may set a longer notice, but may not shorten it. If the rules state ten days, that is the period to respect, because the provision more favourable to owners prevails over the legal minimum.

When the period starts running

The decisive point is that the five days are counted from receipt, not from dispatch. The convocation is a unilateral notice requiring receipt: it takes effect when it reaches the recipient's address, under the principle of Article 1335 of the Italian Civil Code. So registered mail sent five days before but delivered only the day before the meeting does not meet the deadline.

In practice the condominium manager must reason backwards from the meeting date and ensure that the last owner receives the notice at least five days in advance. This means adding to the five days the technical delivery time of the chosen means: PEC is instant, registered mail takes days and may end up on hold.

How to count the days in practice

The calculation should be made prudently. If the meeting is set for the 20th, the notice must be received by the 15th at the latest, so that five days run between the 15th and the 20th. Since case law tends to treat the days as clear days, many managers choose a wider margin to avoid working at the limit.

When the notice travels by post, the backward count must start from the likely delivery date. That is why it is good practice to send well in advance, ten or twelve days before, so that even slow delivery or a period on hold stays within the useful term.

• Identify the date of the first call meeting
• Count backwards the five days to the receipt deadline
• Add the typical delivery days of the chosen means
• Send with a safety margin against the deadline

Notice period and second call

The notice usually states both the first and the second call. The second may not be held on the same day as the first and must take place within ten days of the first. The five-day period refers to the date of the first call: if that is respected, the second call stated in the same notice is validly communicated.

If instead the first call fails for lack of quorum and no second date had been stated, a new notice is needed, with a fresh five-day period before the new meeting. Including the second call from the outset avoids repeating the whole procedure.

Consequences of missing the period

If even one entitled party does not receive the notice in time, the resolution adopted is voidable on challenge under Article 1137 of the Italian Civil Code. Voidability must be asserted within thirty days by anyone with an interest, so the defect does not automatically strike down the resolution but exposes it to the risk of annulment.

Proof of compliance with the period rests on the condominium manager. It is the manager who must show, faced with a challenge, the date on which each notice arrived. That is why the choice of means and the keeping of receipts are not formalities but the backbone of the meeting's regularity. With a management system like AmministraPro, sending notices automatically records the date and receipt for each owner, and the calendar helps set the meeting date backwards from the deadlines: the features are described at /funzioni and the plans at /prezzi.

Frequently asked questions