The story
A condominium owner challenged a resolution which provided for, among other things, the replacement of heat meters already installed. The Court declared the resolution null and void.
The condominium turned to the Court of Appeal, arguing that the resolution was fully legitimate, even if it concerned devices located within the individual exclusive properties. According to the appellant, in fact, although the allocators are formally owned by the individual condominium owners, they are part of an integrated system with the boiler control unit. Consequently, according to the condominium it would not be technically possible to proceed with the replacement of the control unit without also intervening on the allocators, as they are strictly interconnected components.
In any case, the appellant himself highlighted that a condominium owner cannot refuse to proceed with the installation of the valves, effectively compromising the activity of regular and orderly governance of the common system, generating enormous management difficulties for the administrator.
The decision of the Court of Appeal
The second instance judges ruled in favor of the condominium. The Court observed that, as emerged from the minutes, the proposal to replace the allocators was challenged by the condominium owner not on the assumption of the absence of problems in the consumption readings, but because the assembly would not have the right to decide on these devices. In the opinion of the judges of second instance, it is true that the allocators – which are used to divide the variable share of heating costs between condominiums based on each individual’s actual consumption – are the private property of the individual condominium owner. However, this instrument, despite being a private device, is subject to mandatory regulations and it is therefore legitimate that the individual condominium owner whose heat allocator is missing or not functioning can be forced by the assembly to arrange for the replacement at his expense: the condominium assembly therefore has the power to decide, by a majority of those present representing at least half of the thousandths, the replacement of the old accounting meters present in the real estate units.
Concluding considerations
It must be considered that the individual condominium owner is obliged to keep the allocators efficient and to replace them in case of malfunction. The art. 9 paragraph 5 letter. b of Legislative Decree 102/2014 places the obligation on the individual owner to install sub-meters aimed at measuring the actual heat consumption and, in the following letter c, it is prescribed that, if the use of sub-meters is not technically possible or is not efficient in terms of costs, we proceed with the installation of individual thermoregulation and heat metering systems, by the owners, to quantify the heat consumption in correspondence to each heating body placed inside the condominium real estate units.
Article 16, paragraph 7, of Legislative Decree 102/2014 still provides that the owner of the real estate unit who does not install individual thermoregulation and heat metering systems to measure the heat consumption at each heating element located inside the real estate unit, is subject to a pecuniary administrative sanction of 500 to 2500 euros for each real estate unit.
Ministerial Decree 93 of 21 April 2017 then establishes that heat meters must be replaced or serviced every nine years and must always be functional and in line with national and European legislation.
