Florence, September 16, 2024 – They are now part of many families. Yet, dogs, cats and other pets risk, in spite of themselves, often becoming the object of condominium disputes and arguments. We have analyzed the most frequent problems – and together with some practical suggestions – together with the lawyer Luca Santarelli, expert in condominium issues.
Lawyer, what is the general principle in this matter?
“It should be noted that, today, dogs and cats are the vaccine to the most serious virus of the century: loneliness. In fact, there is no doubt that many Italian families are made up of a single person accompanied by one or more animals. Alongside this fact, there is, however, an analysis to be done regarding the presence of these extraordinary companion animals within the walls of condominiums. For some years now, it has been legal to keep domestic animals in one’s home, those that the English call ‘Pets’, but this does not mean that they can do what they want or, better said, that the owners do not adopt rules of good manners and respect, even before observing the laws (which exist on the matter)”.
What if the condominium prohibits animals?
“If the rule of a possible condominium regulation were to prohibit keeping pets in the family, it would be radically null. It is important to know this because in our country there are many buildings with regulations written and approved before June 2013, the date of entry into force of the new condominium law regulations. The old regulations may contain articles that impose this type of prohibition, but in these cases, the rule is, in fact, nullified”.
What are the most common problems?
“Often the problems are linked to the lack of hygiene and health requirements and noise. The first case occurs when, due to a lack of attention on the part of the owners or a large number of animals present in the home, the cleaning of excrement is not carried out or there is inadequate personal hygiene of the animals themselves. In this case the smell spreads to the common areas and to other apartments, generating neighborhood discussions. The noises occur especially when the animals, especially dogs, are left alone in the house for a long time or have a tendency to bark a lot. In both cases, the neighbors suffer a great and justified disturbance”.
What to do then?
“At a legal level, the first step is to invest time and resources in dialogue, thus making the owners understand that they must adopt a protocol for managing the pet that is different from the one in place. Where the conciliation attempt does not produce results, legal avenues remain, starting from the first level which is conciliation with the competent bodies, unless there are grounds for taking urgent action in Court”.