Legal guide for administrators
A condominium has an advantage few creditors enjoy: it does not have to go to court to prove the money is owed before enforcing it. The minutes of the meeting can serve as an enforcement title — but only if they say exactly what article 6 of Decree-Law 268/94 requires. And there is a deadline to act, carrying a rarely cited value condition.
Statutory text verified on 30 August 2026.
Article 6, no. 1
It all starts with how the minutes are drafted, and this is where most recoveries are lost before they begin. No. 1 requires that the minutes of the meeting that decided the amount of contributions payable to the condominium state the annual amount payable by each owner and the due date of the corresponding obligations.
Two elements, and both are necessary. The annual amount, per owner. And the due date of the obligations.
Minutes that approve «the budget presented» without itemising each fraction's annual amount, or that fix no due dates, do their job as a record of the meeting but do not serve as an enforcement title.
It is worth reviewing the annual meeting's minutes template with article 6 beside it. It is the difference between being able to enforce and having to bring a declaratory action first.
Article 6, no. 2
Once those requirements are met, no. 2 supplies the effect: minutes of the owners' meeting meeting the requirements in no. 1 constitute an enforcement title against the owner who fails to pay their share within the period established.
That is a considerable procedural advantage. The condominium does not first need a judgment recognising the debt: it goes straight to enforcement, on the strength of a document it produced itself — provided it was produced as the law requires.
The title runs against the owner who failed to pay within the period established. It is the due date fixed in the minutes that defines when that default begins.
Article 6, no. 3
No. 3 widens the scope: default interest at the legal rate on the obligation contained in the title is covered, as are pecuniary sanctions, provided these were approved at an owners' meeting or are provided for in the condominium regulation.
Default interest at the legal rate follows the obligation without needing a decision of its own. Pecuniary sanctions, by contrast, are only recoverable if approved at a meeting or set out in the regulation — they cannot be invented at the point of collection.
There is also an annual ceiling on those penalties. Article 1434, no. 2, of the Civil Code provides that the amount of penalties applicable in any year shall never exceed a quarter of the annual taxable income of the offender's fraction.
Article 6, nos. 4 and 5
No. 4 imposes the duty: the administrator must bring judicial proceedings to recover the amounts referred to in nos. 1 and 3. It is not an option.
No. 5 sets the deadline and, in the same sentence, two provisos that change everything: the action must be brought within 90 days from the date of the owner's first default, save where the owners' meeting decides otherwise, and provided the amount owed is equal to or greater than the value of the social support index (IAS) for the relevant calendar year.
So: 90 days from the first default; the assembly may decide otherwise; and the duty only bites when the amount owed reaches the IAS for the calendar year in question.
The reference to the IAS is the part almost never quoted, and it is what keeps small sums out of court. The IAS is updated each year by ministerial order.
Article 279 of the Civil Code
The period runs from «the date of the owner's first default», not from the date the administrator noticed it or the meeting was told about it.
Under article 279, paragraph b), of the Civil Code, the day on which the triggering event occurs does not count. The first day is the one after the default.
Paragraph e) adds that a period ending on a Sunday or public holiday moves to the first working day — with judicial vacations treated like Sundays and holidays where the act must be performed in court, which is exactly the case when bringing an action.
Article 1436 of the Civil Code
Recovery does not begin in court. Paragraph f) of article 1436, no. 1, requires the administrator to demand from owners their share of the approved expenses, including the legal interest due and the pecuniary sanctions fixed by the condominium regulation or by decision of the meeting.
During proceedings there are information duties. Paragraph o) requires owners to be informed, in writing or by email, whenever the condominium is served or notified in judicial, arbitral, injunction, administrative-offence or administrative proceedings. And paragraph p) requires informing them, at least every six months, of developments in those proceedings.
No. 3 closes with the consequence: an administrator who fails to perform the duties conferred on them by this article, by other legal provisions or by decisions of the owners' meeting is civilly liable for that omission.
The same article 6 regime applies to the extraordinary levy replacing a common reserve fund used for another purpose, by the cross-reference in article 4, no. 3.
Frequently asked
No. Only the minutes of the meeting that decided the amount of contributions, and which state the annual amount payable by each owner and the due date of the obligations (article 6, nos. 1 and 2). Without those two elements the minutes remain evidence of the meeting, but are not an enforcement title.
Yes, at the legal rate, and it is covered by the enforcement title itself (article 6, no. 3). Pecuniary sanctions, on the other hand, are only enforceable if approved at a meeting or provided for in the condominium regulation.
There is. Article 1434, no. 2, of the Civil Code provides that the amount of penalties applicable in any year shall never exceed a quarter of the annual taxable income of the offender's fraction.
Article 6, no. 4, says the administrator must bring the judicial action. No. 5 sets the 90 days from the first default, saving a contrary decision of the meeting and requiring the amount owed to be equal to or greater than the IAS for the relevant calendar year.
The condition in article 6, no. 5, which makes the duty to bring the action within that period depend on that threshold, is not met. The debt still exists and is still due — what falls away is the obligation to litigate within the 90 days.
No. 5 expressly saves a «contrary decision of the owners' meeting». That decision should be recorded in the minutes, not least so the administrator is not later answerable for an omission that was not theirs.
Sources
Every rule above is in the official text. The links below open the legislation, not a commentary on it.
This page is general information about the law in force, not legal advice on a particular case. Bringing enforcement or declaratory proceedings involves procedural choices that should be made with legal support.
Other guides
In CondOnline
CondOnline records the approved annual amount per fraction and the due date of each obligation, marks the first default, and keeps the history of reminders and payments — the elements article 6 depends on.