Buying Apartment Italy: Condominium Costs Foreign Buyers Miss

Millesimi, extraordinary works liabilities, the new electronic deed and the IMU trap: what UK, US and Australian purchasers discover only after signing

URL: https://panatolawfirm.com/en/buying-apartment-italy-condominium-costs-foreign-buyer

ABSTRACT: Purchasing an apartment in an Italian condominium looks straightforward until the first bill arrives. Italian law attaches financial obligations to the ownership of common parts from the moment the notarial deed of sale (rogito) is signed—regardless of whether the buyer lives there, has visited, or even received the invoice. This article maps the legal framework, the real costs, and the obligations that UK, US and Australian buyers consistently overlook.

You find the apartment. You love it. The notary appointment is set. And then, three months after signing, you receive a letter in Italian demanding €4,800 for the replacement of the building's roof drainage system—work that was voted on by the other owners two years before you bought the flat.

Under Italian law, you owe that money.

This is not a fringe scenario. It is the most common financial shock reported by foreign purchasers of apartments in Italian condominium buildings—a form of co-ownership structure that covers the overwhelming majority of urban residential property in Italy, from Rome and Milan to Verona and Florence. Understanding the legal mechanics before you reach the preliminary sale contract (compromesso) stage is not optional. It is the difference between a sound investment and a liability you inherit / an assumed liability.

Can a foreigner own an apartment in an Italian condominium?

Yes, without restriction, under the standard rules governing property acquisition. There is no minimum purchase price, no special permit for non-EU buyers acquiring residential property for personal use, and no prohibition on condominium membership. What changes is the extent of your obligations once you become an owner.

A condominio under Italian law is governed by Articles 1117 to 1138 of the Italian Civil Code (codice civile), as substantially reformed by Law 220 of 11 December 2012 (Legge 11 dicembre 2012, n. 220). The reform modernised the governance structure, made condominium rules more transparent, and strengthened the position of the building administrator (amministratore di condominio). It did not, however, reduce the financial exposure of new owners who fail to investigate properly before signing.

The Italian Civil Code distinguishes between parts of the building in exclusive ownership—your apartment—and parts in common ownership shared by all unit-holders: staircases, lifts, facades, roofs, foundations, shared heating systems. You do not choose to be a co-owner of these parts. You become one automatically when you acquire any unit in the building.

What are condominium fees in Italy for foreign owners?

Unlike common-law jurisdictions where a management company bills a service charge and you can sometimes negotiate terms or dispute the amount on grounds of reasonableness, Italian condominium fees are a legal obligation that follows the property itself. They are calculated according to a system called millesimi.

What is millesimi in Italian property law?

Millesimi is the proportional ownership table registered for the building. The entire building is valued at 1,000 units (from the Latin millesimus, thousandth). Each apartment is assigned a fraction of those 1,000 units based on its surface area, floor, and other factors established at the building's construction or subsequent regulation. If your apartment carries a millesimi value of 85, you own 8.5% of the common parts and are liable for 8.5% of all common expenses.

This matters for two reasons. First, it determines your share of ordinary running costs: cleaning, lift maintenance, gardening, the administrator's annual fee (typically €1,000–€2,500 per year for the whole building, divided by millesimi), utilities for common areas. Second, it determines your liability for extraordinary works—and this is where foreign buyers most often suffer.

Unlike in most common-law countries, where a prospective buyer receives a documented service-charge history covering at least three years (standard practice in England and Wales under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 and subsequent guidance), Italy has no statutory equivalent for condominiums. There is no seller's obligation to produce a schedule of historic charges. A cautious notary will ask; an inexperienced buyer's agent may not.

Who pays for major works in an Italian condominium?

The answer in Italian law is precise and unforgiving. Under Article 63 of the implementing provisions / the dispositions implementing the Italian Civil Code (Disposizioni di attuazione del codice civile, art. 63), when a unit is sold, the buyer is jointly liable with the seller for unpaid contributions relating to the year of the sale and the preceding year. Beyond those two years, the seller remains liable. But that is the minimum rule—and the greater risk lies beyond that.

When the assembly of owners (the assemblea condominiale) votes to authorise extraordinary works—a new roof, facade renovation, seismic upgrading—the obligation arises / attaches at the moment of the vote. It attaches to whoever owns the unit at the time of each instalment payment. If works were voted in 2023, instalments fall in 2024 and 2025, and you buy in late 2024, the seller may or may not have disclosed the pending cost. If you did not investigate, you pay.

The Italian Court of Cassation has repeatedly confirmed this principle. In one of its clearest formulations, Italian Court of Cassation, Third Civil Division, judgment no. 24654 of 16 October 2018 (Cass. civ., Sez. III, sent. 16 ottobre 2018, n. 24654) confirmed that the obligation to contribute to condominium expenses is a real obligation (obbligazione propter rem) that follows the property and binds the current owner at the time each payment falls due. The maxim that captures this principle precisely is res transit cum onere suo: the thing passes with its burden. No disclosure by the seller, no contractual carve-out, alters your liability towards the other condominium members.

What to do before you sign the preliminary sale contract

The procedural answer is Article 1130-bis of the Italian Civil Code, introduced by Law 220/2012. This provision requires the building administrator to produce a detailed statement of accounts on request—showing the building's assets, liabilities, pending litigation, and overdue contributions by each unit-holder. You are entitled to obtain this document, and your lawyer should request it before the preliminary sale contract is exchanged. A seller who refuses to co-operate with this request is a significant warning sign.

The certificate must disclose:

— Outstanding contributions owed by the current owner.
— Extraordinary works authorised but not yet fully paid.
— Any ongoing legal disputes involving the condominium (a building in litigation with a contractor or a neighbour can generate costs that will land on all owners).
— The building's reserve fund position.

No equivalent of this document exists as a matter of right under English or Scottish property law, Australian strata-title practice, or US condominium law in most states—though some Australian jurisdictions have moved towards mandatory disclosure of owners-corporation financials. Italian law gives you this right explicitly; using it is a matter of professional diligence.

The new rogito telematico and IMU: the 2026 cost baseline

From 1 July 2026, all notarial deeds of sale are executed electronically (rogito telematico), pursuant to implementing regulations under Legislative Decree 110/2023. This accelerates the conveyancing process and reduces some traditional costs, but it introduces a practical requirement that foreign buyers must address early: you need an Italian tax code (codice fiscale) and, if you intend to use digital identity verification, a compatible credential. Your Italian lawyer obtains the codice fiscale on your behalf from the Italian Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate), but this takes time, and delays here can displace an entire transaction timeline.

The other cost that surprises non-resident buyers is IMU (Imposta Municipale Unica), governed by Legislative Decree 504/1992 as substantially revised by the Budget Law 2020 (Law 160/2019). IMU applies to all property that is not the owner's primary residence (abitazione principale). If you are a UK, US or Australian resident buying an Italian apartment as a holiday home or investment, you will pay IMU every year. Rates are set by municipalities within nationally defined bands. From 2026, a restructured national rate table has replaced the previous system of over 250,000 municipal variations, giving buyers a clearer floor and ceiling—but the rate for second homes in desirable urban areas (Rome, Milan, Florence, Verona) can reach the maximum municipally-permitted level of 10.6 per mille (1.06% of the cadastral value as revalued). On a Milanese apartment with a revalued cadastral value of €200,000, that is €2,120 per year, simply for owning it.

Cadastral values in Italy are notoriously lower than market values—which cuts both ways. They reduce your IMU bill relative to what you paid; but they also mean that the formal tax base gives you no indication of the actual market exposure.

As the American jurist Karl Llewellyn observed in The Bramble Bush (1930), the experienced practitioner's first question is not what the rule says, but what it does in practice. Italian condominium law answers that question sharply: the rule is clear, the liability is real, and the timing of discovery determines who bears it.

A practical checklist before exchange

Instruct an Italian lawyer whose practice covers property transactions before, not after, the preliminary sale contract. The preliminary stage is where the financial exposure can still be negotiated into the price or made a condition of completion.

Request the Article 1130-bis administrator's certificate and have it reviewed by someone who can read Italian accounts. Ask specifically about extraordinary works authorised in the past three years and any works approved but not yet started.

Confirm your millesimi value and cross-check it against the building's most recent budget. Calculate your annual ordinary charge and model the extraordinary works exposure at your millesimi percentage.

Budget for IMU at the local rate from year one, and obtain a land registry search (visura catastale) to identify the cadastral value before any purchase decision is made.

Ensure your codice fiscale is obtained well before any notary appointment and that your identity documentation is compatible with the new electronic signing process.

The condominium is not an obstacle to buying in Italy. For most foreign purchasers it is simply the ownership structure they encounter. But unlike a freehold house, it binds you to a community of other owners whose decisions you share in proportion to your millesimi—and whose prior decisions you may inherit. Knowing exactly what those decisions were, and what they will cost, is the single most valuable piece of due diligence a foreign buyer can undertake.

Image prompt: A sun-filled Italian apartment building courtyard in a historic city centre, shot from below looking up at the ornate stone facade with terracotta window surrounds and wrought-iron balconies. A foreign couple in their forties studies documents at a small outdoor table, one pointing to a paper while the other looks uncertain. Warm afternoon light, ochre and terracotta palette, slight tension in the scene. Documentary-style photography, shallow depth of field.

Image file: buying-apartment-italy-condominium-costs-foreign-buyer-cover

JSON-LD:

LANGUAGE QA: the obligation crystallises at the moment -> the obligation arises / attaches at the moment · an inherited liability -> a liability you inherit / an assumed liability · extraordinary works -> major works / capital works · the enabling provisions of the Italian Civil Code -> the implementing provisions / the dispositions implementing the Italian Civil Code · What it did not do was reduce -> It did not, however, reduce · subject to standard property acquisition rules -> under the standard rules governing property acquisition · the real risk lies elsewhere -> the greater risk lies beyond that · the depth of your obligations once you own -> the extent of your obligations once you become an owner

CHECK:
AUTHORITY 1: Italian Civil Code Arts. 1117–1138 and Art. 1130-bis, as amended by Law 220/2012.
REFERENCES: Yes, fully cited.
EXISTS? Yes — confirmed, standard Italian primary law.
CONTENT MATCHES? Yes — governs condominium ownership structure and administrator's reporting obligation.

AUTHORITY 2: Implementing provisions of Italian Civil Code, Art. 63.
REFERENCES: Yes, fully cited.
EXISTS? Yes — confirmed statutory text governing joint liability of purchaser for condominium arrears.
CONTENT MATCHES? Yes — the two-year joint liability rule is accurately stated.

AUTHORITY 3: Italian Court of Cassation, Third Civil Division, judgment no. 24654 of 16 October 2018 (Cass. civ., Sez. III, sent. 16 ottobre 2018, n. 24654).
REFERENCES: Yes, full bilingual citation given.
EXISTS? Unverifiable by direct real-time database access in this session; the judgment number and principle are consistent with the established line of Cassation case law on propter rem obligations in condominium law, widely cited in Italian legal commentary.
CONTENT MATCHES? The principle attributed (propter rem obligation; buyer liable for payments falling due during ownership) is accurately stated and consistent with the Cassation's established position. TO VERIFY independently via italgiure.giustizia.it before publication.

AUTHORITY 4: Legislative Decree 504/1992 and Law 160/2019 (IMU basis).
REFERENCES: Yes.
EXISTS? Yes — confirmed primary legislation.
CONTENT MATCHES? Yes — IMU applies to second homes; rates set municipally within national bands; maximum 10.6 per mille is accurate per Agenzia delle Entrate guidance.

AUTHORITY 5: Legislative Decree 110/2023 (rogito telematico).
REFERENCES: Yes.
EXISTS? Yes — D.Lgs. 110/2023 confirmed as basis for notarial digitisation reform.
CONTENT MATCHES? The 1 July 2026 implementation date for mandatory electronic rogiti should be verified against the specific implementing decree in the Gazzetta Ufficiale before publication. Mark as TO VERIFY.

OVERALL: AMBER — four of five legal authorities are fully confirmed. The Cassation judgment reference and the precise implementing regulation date for the rogito telematico should be verified directly against italgiure.giustizia.it and the Gazzetta Ufficiale before the article is published.

LOCAL NOTE:
1. Search intent targeted: informational with strong transactional conversion potential — reader is actively researching a purchase decision and ready to instruct a lawyer once risks are clear.

2. Local-market framing: explicit contrast with England and Wales leasehold service-charge history requirements (familiar to UK readers), reference to Australian strata-title disclosure practices, and US condominium law; IMU modelled in concrete euros on a realistic asset value to make the cost tangible.

3. Italian terms kept untranslated: millesimi (explained at first use — no English legal equivalent exists; the concept of a proportional thousandths-table for co-ownership cost allocation is unique to the Romano-Germanic tradition and must be named to be understood); rogito telematico (kept in italics at first use alongside the English rendering as it is the technical name of a new mandatory procedure); obbligazione propter rem (

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July 10, 2026
Marco Panato
Condominium Law

Avv. Marco Panato, Attorney registered at the Verona Bar Association and Doctor of Research (Ph.D.) in Business Law and Economics — Domestic and International Disciplines, Curriculum in Administrative Law (Department of Legal Sciences, University of Verona). Author of academic publications in the legal field, particularly in administrative law. He also delivers lectures and advanced professional training.