A flat owner who provides accommodation free of charge to the caretaker is entitled to compensation

The calculation of the compensation due to a co-owner who transfers free of charge to the block of flats the accommodation they own for use as a porter’s lodge is at the heart of the Supreme Court order 23005/2026 filed on 10 July.

Should unpaid caretaker’s fees be deducted from the credit? In the proceedings on the merits, reference was made to the allocation criterion set out in Article 1123 of the Civil Code, based on the proportion of ownership shares . Even though the co-owner had not met the burden of proof of the millesimal tables nor of the regulations. On appeal to the Court of Cassation, she pointed out that she had, however, paid twice: once by transferring the flat free of charge, and the other by paying the full amount due to her as compensation for the porter’s services.

There would have been an ‘unjustified duplication of payments’ and, in light of the principle established by the Court of Cassation, the right to compensation should be recognised on the basis of the unjust enrichment accrued by the block of flats, consisting of the free use of the property, and should be quantified as equal to the rental value of the property and not on the basis of the condominium shares.

The Supreme Court has quashed the appeal court’s ruling and clarified that the compensation is to be calculated on the basis of the unpaid rental value of the property, after deducting from that sum the corresponding gain made by the owner in the form of savings on expenditure, to be calculated on the basis of the property’s rental value but apportioned according to the number of thousandths.