Boiler service in a rented apartment in Italy: landlord or tenant?

Who is responsible for the boiler in a rented apartment in Italy?

The tenant of the flat (apartment). Italian law calls this role the person responsible for the heating system (responsabile dell'impianto termico). For a single home, Legislative Decree 192/2005 (Annex A, point 42) gives the role to "the occupant, under any title". The owner takes it only when the home is not let.

Point 30 of the same annex defines the occupant as anyone who uses the home without owning it. So a lease and a free loan of the flat lead to the same answer. Presidential Decree 74/2013, article 6, then gives the responsible person the running, the checks and the maintenance of the system.

In practice, the person who switches the boiler on every day books the engineer. They also keep the system logbook (libretto di impianto) up to date and file the inspection reports. If you have just moved in, ask your landlord for the logbook on day one. It is the first thing any engineer asks for.

Who pays for the boiler service: landlord or tenant?

The tenant takes care of routine maintenance, the energy efficiency check and small repairs caused by normal use. The landlord pays for repairs caused by age or by accident. As a rule, the landlord also pays for a new boiler. When the flat is not let, everything goes back to the owner. Your lease (contratto di locazione) can split the costs differently, so read it before you argue about a bill.

The first two rows come from the rules on heating systems. The others come from the Civil Code. They answer two different questions. Who must have the work done? The heating rules say: the responsible person. Who pays for it? That is what the lease can divide.

What happens if nobody services the boiler?

Skipping the checks and the maintenance can cost an administrative fine of 500 to 3,000 euro. Legislative Decree 192/2005, article 15, paragraph 5, lists who can be fined: the owner or the tenant, the condominium administrator, and any third party who took on the responsibility. An engineer who does not write and sign the inspection report faces a separate fine of 1,000 to 6,000 euro (paragraph 6).

Both the owner and the tenant appear in the law. Who answers in a given case depends on who the responsible person is. Even so, a landlord cannot assume they are out of the picture.

There are civil consequences between the two parties too. The tenant must look after the flat with ordinary care (Civil Code, article 1587). They answer for loss and damage unless they prove it was not their fault (article 1588). And they must return the flat in the condition they found it, apart from normal wear (article 1590). A boiler ruined by years without cleaning fits that picture.

Is the landlord responsible for boiler repairs?

It depends on the cause. The landlord carries out all necessary repairs, except small maintenance, which is the tenant's (Civil Code, article 1576). Article 1609 explains what small maintenance means: damage caused by use, not by age or accident. Without an agreement, local custom decides.

Two examples, always read against the lease. A heat exchanger clogged because nobody cleaned it for years points to use. A part that fails on a twenty-year-old boiler points to age.

If the fault is not yours to fix, you must tell the landlord. If the repair is urgent, you can have it done straight away and claim the cost back. You must inform the landlord at the same time (article 1577). Keep the invoice and the engineer's report.

What can a landlord do if the tenant skips the service?

The landlord has three levers: the lease, the Civil Code and, in Lombardy, the regional register. The strongest is the lease, written before it is needed. Add a clause asking for a copy of the inspection report at every due date. The tenant's legal duty then becomes a commitment to you, and you can check it on paper.

1. At check-in, hand over the logbook. Note in the inventory the state of the boiler and the date of the last check: that is your benchmark under article 1590.
2. In the lease, ask for a copy of the report after every service and every efficiency check, with a clear deadline.
3. At the due date, check that the report has arrived. In Lombardy you can also look up the last check registered at the address.
4. If it does not arrive, ask in writing and refer to articles 1587 and 1588 of the Civil Code.
5. If the breach goes on, you can enforce the lease. How serious it is, and what follows, is for a lawyer to assess.

A typical gap opens when tenants change. The logbook stays in a drawer, and the new tenant does not know the responsibility is now theirs. The check is missed. That is why, if the client asks, we leave a copy of the report for the landlord too.

Does the landlord have a right to see the boiler report?

Not by law, as far as the rules we read for this guide go. They contain no explicit duty for the tenant to hand over the inspection report or a copy of the logbook. The right comes from the lease, if it says so. The law sets a narrower duty: the tenant must tell the landlord when repairs are needed that are not the tenant's to make (Civil Code, article 1577).

In Lombardy there is also a route that does not go through the tenant. Efficiency reports are filed on CURIT, the regional register of heating systems. Our free heating system check-up reads that register by address: it shows the type, the year and the last check of the systems registered at that street number. The tool is in Italian. The data covers the whole street number, not your flat, and the firms that install and service the systems enter it. So it can be incomplete or late: treat it as a hint, not as proof.

What if the building has central heating?

Then the responsible person is the building administrator (amministratore di condominio), under Legislative Decree 192/2005, Annex A, point 42. The administrator arranges maintenance and checks on the boiler room. The single tenant or flat owner does not. The tenant shares the running costs as the lease and the building rules say, but is not responsible for the shared boiler.

The administrator can hand running, checks and maintenance to a third party responsible (terzo responsabile). This must be a firm that meets the requirements of Presidential Decree 74/2013. With the delegation, the responsibility moves to that firm. So does the exposure to the article 15 fine, which names the third party explicitly.

Who is responsible when the flat is empty between tenants?

The owner. When a home is not let, the owner is the responsible person, even if the flat stands empty between two leases. When a company owns the flat, the responsible person is the owner or its managing director (Legislative Decree 192/2005, Annex A, point 42).

A check that falls due in those months is the owner's. A simple calendar of checks for each property, kept even while the flat is let, avoids finding out at an inspection.

Nor can you pass the responsibility for a wall-hung boiler to a firm. Presidential Decree 74/2013, article 6, paragraph 1, rules out a third party responsible for a single home when the boiler is not in a dedicated plant room. That covers a boiler in a kitchen or on a balcony. The firm does the work and signs the report. The person living there still has to book the checks on time.

When can you turn the heating on in Milan?

In Milan the heating season runs from 15 October to 15 April. For 2026/2027 the City of Milan set tighter limits than the national rule, with Mayoral Ordinance no. 57 of 9 October 2026. From 15 to 30 October 2026 the heating can run for up to 8 hours a day. From 31 October 2026 to 15 April 2027 the limit is 13 hours a day. In both periods the hours must fall between 5 am and 11 pm, and the average temperature in a home must not go above 19 °C, with 2 °C of tolerance.

The national rule is Presidential Decree 74/2013. Article 4 sets the season and the daily hours by climate zone, and article 3 caps the temperature in homes at 20 °C plus 2. Article 5 lets the mayor extend or reduce the season and the hours by ordinance, which is what Milan has done. Outside the season you can switch the heating on only when the weather justifies it, and for no more than half the usual daily hours: 7 hours, says the City.

Who keeps to these limits? With your own boiler, you do: you set the timer and the thermostat. With central heating, the building administrator does. The limits can change every season, so check the City's heating calendar each autumn.

How often must a boiler be serviced in Milan?

There are two deadlines, and they are different. Maintenance follows the manufacturer's instructions in the logbook. The energy efficiency check is set by law. Many people still call it the bollino or the revisione.

In Lombardy, Regional Resolution XI/3502/2020 requires the efficiency check every two years for gas boilers between 5 and 35 kW. Between 35 and 350 kW it is every year. The report is filed on CURIT. The responsible person must meet both deadlines, and a landlord does well to know them too, to ask for the report at the right time.

Would you like us to handle it? Our boiler service in Milan covers the maintenance, the efficiency check and the updated logbook. You get the report, ready to forward to your landlord. We answer in English. For cooling, read our guide to air conditioning in Milan.