CONDOMINIUM

A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real

property where a specified part of a piece of real estate (usually of an
apartment house) is individually owned. Use of land access to common
facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, and
exterior areas are executed under legal rights associated with the individual
ownership. These rights are controlled by the association of owners that
jointly represent ownership of the whole piece.

"Condominium" is a legal term used in the United States and in most

provinces of Canada. In Australia, New Zealand, and the Canadian province of
British Columbia, it is referred to as "strata title." In Quebec, the term
"divided co-property" (French: proprit divis) is used, although the colloquial
name remains "condominium." In France, the equivalent is called coproprit
(co-ownership), usually managed by the syndic. In Italy the equivalent term is
"Condominio" (not surprisingly, as "Condominium" comes from Latin). In
Hispanic regions, the traditional term propiedad horizontal is retained since
horizon in this case signifies "defined." In South Africa, this form of ownership
is called "sectional title."[1]
Overview[edit]
The difference between an "apartment" complex is purely legal. There is no
way to differentiate a condominium from an apartment simply by looking at
or visiting the building. What defines a condominium is the form of
ownership. The same building developed as a condominium (and sold in
individual units to different owners) could actually be built at another location
as an apartment building (the developers would retain ownership and rent
individual units to different tenants). As a practical matter, builders tend to
build condominiums to higher quality standards than apartment complexes
because of the differences between the rental and sale markets.

Technically, a condominium is a collection of individual home units and

common areas along with the land upon which they sit. Individual home
ownership within a condominium is construed as ownership of only the air
space confining the boundaries of the home (Anglo-Saxon law systems;
different elsewhere). The boundaries of that space are specified by a legal
document known as a Declaration, filed on record with the local governing
authority. Typically, these boundaries will include the wall surrounding a
condo, allowing the homeowner to make some interior modifications without
impacting the common area. Anything outside this boundary is held in an

undivided ownership interest by a corporation established at the time of the

condominiums creation. The corporation holds this property in trust on
behalf of the homeowners as a group-it may not have ownership itself.

Condominiums have conditions, covenants, and restrictions, and often

additional rules that govern how the individual unit owners are to share the
space.

It is also possible for a condominium to consist of single-family dwellings. Socalled "detached condominiums" where homeowners do not maintain the
exteriors of the dwellings, yards, etc. or "site condominiums" where the
owner has more control and possible ownership (as in a "whole lot" or "lot
line" condominium) over the exterior appearance. These structures are
preferred by some planned neighborhoods and gated communities.

Homeowners Association (HOA)[edit]

A homeowners association (HOA), whose members are the unit owners,
manages the condominium through a board of directors elected by the
membership. The concept exists under various names depending on the
jurisdiction, such as "unit title", "sectional title", "commonhold," "strata
council," or "tenant-owner's association", "body corporate", "Owners
Corporation", "condominium corporation" or "condominium association."
Another variation of this concept is the "time share", although not all time
shares are condominiums, and not all time shares involve actual ownership of
(i.e., deeded title to) real property. Condominiums may be found in both civil
law and common law legal systems as it is purely a creation of statute.
Among other things, the HOA assesses unit owners for the costs of
maintaining the common areas, etc. That is, the HOA decides how much each
owner should pay and has the legal power to collect that.

Condominium unit description[edit]

The Cosmopolitan, a condominium in Singapore

The description of the condominium units and the common areas and any
restrictions on their use is established in a document commonly called a
"Master Deed" (also known as the "Enabling Declaration", the "Declaration of

Conditions", or the "Condominium Document"). Among other things, this

document provides for the creation of the HOA. Rules of governance for the
association are usually covered under a separate set of bylaws which
generally govern the internal affairs of the condominium. Condominium
bylaws usually establish the responsibilities of the owners' association; the
voting procedures to be used at association meetings; the qualifications,
powers, and duties of the board of directors; the powers and duties of the
officers; and the obligations of the owners with regard to assessments,
maintenance, and use of the units and common areas. Finally, a set of rules
and regulations providing specific details of restrictions on conduct of unit
owners and residents are established by the HOA.[2] These are more readily
amendable than the declaration or association bylaws, typically requiring
only a vote of the HOA board. Typical rules include mandatory maintenance
fees (perhaps collected monthly), pet restrictions, and color/design choices
visible from the exterior of the units. Generally, these sets of rules and
regulations are made available to residents and or as a matter of public
record via a condominium or homeowners association website or through
public files, depending on the state and its applicable laws. Condominiums
are usually owned in fee simple title, but can be owned in ways that other
real estate can be owned, such as title held in trust. In some jurisdictions,
such as Ontario, Canada or Hawaii USA, there are "leasehold condominiums"
where the development is built on leased land.

In general, condominium unit owners can rent their home to tenants, similar
to renting out other real estate, although leasing rights may be subject to
conditions or restrictions set forth in the declaration (such as a rental cap for
the total number of units in a community that can be leased at one time) or
otherwise as permitted by local law.

Non-residential uses[edit]
Condominium ownership is also used, albeit less frequently, for nonresidential land uses: offices, hotel rooms, retail shops, group housing
facilities (retirement homes or dormitories), and storage. The legal structure
is the same, and many of the benefits are similar; for instance, a nonprofit
corporation may face a lower tax liability in an office condominium than in an
office rented from a taxable, for-profit company. However, the frequent
turnover of commercial land uses in particular can make the inflexibility of
condominium arrangements problematic.

Similar concepts[edit]
There are many forms of real estate ownership that are similar to
condominiums but not identical.

Classic privately owned detached houses on privately owned lots may be part
of a community that has a homeowner's association. Such an association
may administer a common park area, for example, or an access road, or
architectural standards for the houses.

In a townhouse complex, multiple physical houses are combined into a single

architectural building. Each unit owner owns an identified plot of land and the
building affixed to it, but that building is physically part of a larger building
that spans lots. There is a continuous roof and foundation and a single wall
divides adjacent townhouses. If there is an apartment below not owned by
owner of townhouse it is not a townhouse just a bi-level apartment,
condominium. Legally, this is very similar to detached houses, but because of
the intertwining of interests in the single architectural building, a
homeowner's association is required. It would be impractical, for example to
replace the roof of just one townhouse. But unlike the condominium, the
townhouse complex's HOA owns none of the building or the land under it. It is
essentially under contract to the townhouse owners to maintain the parts of
the building that are hard to divide. Even the walls between townhouses are
usually outside the purview of the HOA, being jointly owned and maintained
by the owners of the townhouses on either side. Like the condominium, the
townhouse complex often has common areas for roads, parking, clubhouses,
and such.

A rowhouse is like a townhouse except that the houses are not physically
connected. They are independent structures that simply have no space
between them. Technically, they are detached.

A building with multiple residential units may simply be owned in common by

multiple people, with each having specific rights to a particular unit and
undivided interest in the rest. This is like a condominium, but there is no HOA
with legal powers. It is much harder to govern, as the individual unit owners
often have to agree unanimously or court intervention is required.

California statutes recognize three kinds of "common interest developments":

condominium, townhouse, and community apartment, with the latter being
the owned-in-common concept described above.