At the start of summer, the same dispute flares up again in most condominiums: someone has an air conditioner installed, the outdoor unit goes on the facade, and the neighbour notices a box humming above their window and water dripping onto their balcony. As a broker, I see that the insurance question regularly comes up only later – when a storm has torn the unit off, or when the falling appliance has smashed a parked car. That is when it turns out that the resident expects the solution from the condominium's policy, the condominium manager expects it from the resident's home insurance, and nobody set out the division of roles in advance. This article shows who owns the outdoor unit, whose consent it requires, and which insurance applies when something goes wrong.
- The outdoor unit is the resident's own property, but the facade is typically common property: under the Condominium Act (Tht.), installing it in a way that affects common property requires the consent of the general meeting, and local townscape rules may also restrict where it can go.
- The condominium's policy protects the common property, so damage to the resident's own air conditioner (storm, falling down) is typically a matter for the resident's home insurance – and whether a unit fixed to the facade is part of the building cover, and with what limit, varies by insurer.
- If the unit falls or its condensate causes damage, under the Hungarian Civil Code (Ptk.) the person in whose interest the object was installed is liable to an outside injured party alongside the owner of the building, while between themselves the resident bears the loss; the condominium's liability insurance steps in if the condominium is liable for the damage – which of the two applies is decided by the facts and the building's own rules.
Who owns the outdoor unit, and who owns the wall?
The outdoor unit is the resident's own property: they bought it, it cools their flat, and they have it fixed to the wall. That does not make the wall theirs. Under Section 1(1)–(2) of the Condominium Act (Act CXXXIII of 2003, Tht.), common property comprises every part of the building not designated as separate property, the load-bearing structures of the building, and the parts of the building and equipment serving the common purpose of the co-owners, even if they are located inside a separately owned flat – in Hungarian deeds of foundation the facade is typically common property, and thermal insulation does not change this. Exactly where the line runs in your own building is determined by the deed of foundation; the article on the boundary between common and separate property gives a detailed picture.
From an insurance perspective, this duality is the key point. The condominium's policy covers the common property – the wall, the insulation, the render – whereas the outdoor unit is the resident's contents or a fixture of the flat, depending on how the home insurance conditions put it. In other words, the property of two owners meets on the facade, which is why in a claim typically not one but two or three policies come into play.
Consent: what does the Condominium Act say, and what do the townscape rules say?
Under Section 20(1) of the Condominium Act, a co-owner must notify the condominium manager of building work planned in their flat, and Section 21(1) allows only work that does not affect the common property to be carried out without the consent of the general meeting. A bracket drilled into the facade and a pipe run through the wall do affect the common property, so under Section 28(1)(i) of the Condominium Act the general meeting decides on consent. Many condominiums regulate this in advance in their SZMSZ (the condominium's organisational and operational rules): it specifies which parts of the facade may carry a unit, how condensate must be drained, and who bears the cost of removing and refitting the unit during a later facade renovation. If the building has such a rule, consent is simpler and more predictable; if not, it is worth adopting one at the next general meeting, before the first dispute breaks out.
The other restriction comes from outside the building: in many municipalities and Budapest districts, local townscape decrees prohibit outdoor units on the street-facing facade or make them subject to conditions – this is worth checking with the local authority, because the general meeting's consent does not override such a ban. Finally, Section 5:23 of the Hungarian Civil Code (Ptk.) sets the neighbour-law standard: in using their property, owners must not unnecessarily disturb their neighbours, which can give rise to a dispute over a noisy or badly placed unit.
It falls, it leaks, a storm tears it off: which insurance applies?
There are three typical kinds of loss, and the order is different for each. The first is when a storm tears off or damages the unit itself. This is damage to the resident's property, so it is a matter for the home insurance: some Hungarian home insurance conditions treat an air-conditioning unit fixed to the building as part of the building cover, others insure it as contents or with a separate limit, and some apply an exclusion or a restriction to equipment on the facade or in the open air – this varies by insurer, so residents should check their own conditions. The condominium's policy typically does not pay for this, because the outdoor unit is not common property; an exception may be if the condominium's policy expressly extends to the co-owners' building fixtures, but this differs from policy to policy. How storm cover works in general is explained in the article on storm damage.
The second is when the unit falls and damages something else: the facade, a parked car, the neighbour's balcony or – in the worst case – a passer-by. This is no longer about property insurance but about liability, which is covered in the next section. The third is the silent loss: condensate that drips for years onto the render, onto the window sill of the neighbour below or into the thermal insulation. This is not a sudden, unforeseen event but gradually developing damage, which property insurance conditions typically exclude – on that basis, the condominium's policy does not pay for crumbling render. The resident has to compensate for the damage, and the liability cover of their home insurance may help if the conditions do not exclude damage resulting from long-term, continuous exposure; this too varies by insurer.
Who is liable for the damage – the resident, the condominium or both?
Under the Civil Code's rule on damage caused by buildings (Section 6:560), the owner of the building is liable for damage caused to others by parts of the building falling off, and the same applies to damage caused by objects placed on the building falling down, with the addition that liability also lies with the person in whose interest the object was placed there. Legal commentators interpret this to mean that the owner and the “keeper” of the object are jointly and severally liable to an outside injured party, while between themselves the loss is borne by the person in whose interest the unit was put on the wall – that is, the resident. To be released from liability, it must be proven that the installation and maintenance rules were followed and that those involved acted as could reasonably be expected to prevent the damage.
The insurance consequence: if a falling unit causes damage to an outsider, the injured party can also approach the condominium, and the condominium's building liability insurance may step in – the insurer will, however, examine whether the condominium is actually liable, and Hungarian policy conditions do not all treat damage caused by objects placed in a resident's own interest in the same way. On the resident's side, the liability cover of home insurance typically extends to damage caused as the owner or occupier of the property, but whether an object fixed to the facade falling off is included depends on the wording of the conditions. If the damage was caused by the installer's mistake – the wrong wall plug, an undersized bracket – the contractor's liability and liability insurance also come into play, so it is worth keeping the invoice and the installation report. What is not in question, however: the injured party is not interested in the condominium and the resident pointing at each other, and the two insurers will not both pay for the same thing.
What should the condominium do, and what should the resident do?
What helps the condominium most is a written air-conditioning rule: the SZMSZ or a general meeting resolution should set out where outdoor units may be placed, that condensate must be drained through a closed pipe, that the fixing must be done by a professional, that the resident bears the maintenance and the removal and refitting during renovation, and that the resident is liable for damage caused by the unit. The condominium manager should keep a register of which unit belongs to which flat and keep the consents in the condominium's insurance file – in a claim, this decides who undertook what. As far as the condominium's policy is concerned, residents' air conditioners – as I see it as a broker – typically do not count as a change that has to be notified; if, however, the condominium itself installs common equipment, that is a different matter.
Before installation, residents should check two things: the conditions of their own home insurance – whether the outdoor unit is included, whether there is a limit on it, and whether the liability cover extends to damage caused by an object placed on the building – and the condominium's consent together with the townscape rules. After a storm, it is worth photographing the damaged unit and its surroundings before anyone touches them, and reporting the claim on their own insurer's claims line. If the damage also affects the building or a neighbour, the condominium manager must be informed as well, because reporting the claim under the condominium's policy is the manager's responsibility. For both policies, the primary route for reporting a claim is the insurer's claims line; if the division of roles between the policies is unclear, or the insurers point at each other and the case gets stuck, I help where I can.
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Sources
- Condominium Act (Tht., Act CXXXIII of 2003 on condominiums) – Section 1(2) common property, Section 20(1) duty to notify, Sections 21(1) and 28(1)(i) general meeting consent for building work affecting common property
- Hungarian Civil Code (Ptk., Act V of 2013) – Section 5:23 prohibition of unnecessarily disturbing neighbours, Section 6:560 liability for damage caused by buildings and by objects falling from buildings
- Magdolna Kiss: Az épületkárokért fennálló felelősség egyes kérdései (Certain issues of liability for damage caused by buildings) – Miskolci Jogtudó 2017/1, pp. 34–42 (Civil Code Sections 6:560–6:561, joint and several liability for objects falling from buildings, condominium aspects)
