WHAT IS A CONDOMINIUM?
The condominium is a type of private ownership. The purchaser of a condominium becomes the owner of a specific unit in a multiple unit dwelling, and has the exclusive right to use that one unit. The rest of the property, such as the walks, garden, and swimming pool, is “shared” with the owners of the other units. The buyer has to contribute to the cost of maintenance and repair of these common areas, and carry out other terms of the “Homeowners’ Association Agreement.
A condominium usually includes a number of condominium “units” (the residential or commercial spaces that are commonly referred to simply as condominiums), “common elements” such as walkways and exercise facilities that can be used by all of the unit owners, and “limited common elements” such as parking spaces that are assigned to specific units. A condominium unit is real property that may be bought and sold just like a house or vacant land, but instead of being defined by a traditional legal description, a condominium unit is defined by its horizontal and vertical boundaries, like a “box of space.” This allows condominium units to exist on top of one another in multiple-story buildings. But condominiums are not always high-rises. Groups of townhomes are often established as condominiums, and sometimes even what looks like a detached, single-family home may in fact be a condominium unit. There are usually detailed rules governing the relationships among the unit owners, and how the co
Nearly 40% of all sales in real estate are condominiums. Condominium projects can be found in high rise buildings, low rise buildings, single family homes, duplexes and even on agricultural land. A wise consumer needs to know what is involved in a condominium development so that they can understand the intricacies of a condominium project. Condominiums are a different type of ownership created in the 1960s of real property unlike subdivisions which have been in existence for centuries. Hawaii is a leader in the development of condominium laws and has been used as a model by other states. The Condominium Property Regime (CPR) was known as the Horizontal Property Regime (HPR) in the early 1960s. Condominiums projects were high rise buildings or town houses or apartment buildings that were converted to condos and sold to individual buyers. Within the last 15 years, single family homes on one lot were condominiumized because the property could not be subdivided or the owner chose to do a c
Condominiums are a relatively new form of housing in Canada. A condominium is made up of two fundamental parts: individual units and common elements. Together, they form a condominium project, which is governed by a condominium corporation. Control over the condominium corporation is held by the ‘shareholders’, who are simply the owners of the individual units. The law that governs condominiums is called the Condominium Act.
A condominium is actually a legal definition that refers to the method of ownership, not the type of building. Any type of home—including suites in low rise or high rise towers or townhouses—can be a condominium. The word condominium comes from the Latin “con” meaning jointly, and “dominium” meaning ownership or control. A condominium is created when the Declaration of Condominium, together with the plat and building plans are recorded in the county where the property is located. When you own a condominium, you have individual title to the air space contained within the walls, floors and ceilings of your unit, and an undivided share in all of the “common areas” of the condominium project in which the unit is located. The term condominium is often used interchangeably to mean either the project as a whole, or the individual unit. From a technical viewpoint, the project is the condominium; the individual living unit is referred to as the apartment or unit. Condos can come in all sizes an
