Condominium
Alternatively, detached condominiums look like single-family homes, but the yards (gardens), building exteriors, and streets, as well as any recreational facilities (such as a pool, bowling alley, tennis courts, and golf course), are jointly owned and maintained by a community association.Unlike apartments, which are leased by their tenants, in most systems condominium units are owned outright, and the owners of the individual units also collectively own the common areas of the property, such as the exterior of the building, roof, corridors/hallways, walkways, and laundry rooms, as well as common utilities and amenities, such as the HVAC system and elevators.In other property regimes, such as those in Hong Kong and Finland, the entire buildings are owned in common with exclusive rights to occupy units assigned to the individual owners.They are typically slightly larger than apartments and are often constructed in a townhouse style in regions where single-family detached homes are common.The boundaries of that space are specified by a legal document known in the United States as a Declaration, filed on record with the local governing authority.The description of the condominium units and the common areas and any restrictions on their use are established in a founding document, which may variously be called a "Master Deed", "Enabling Declaration", "Declaration of Conditions", "Conditions, Covenants, and Restrictions (CC&Rs)", "Deed of Mutual Covenant" or simply a "Condominium Document".[citation needed] Rules for the association may be in the master deed, or could be a separate set of bylaws governing the internal affairs of the condominium.Typical rules include mandatory maintenance fees (perhaps collected monthly), pet restrictions, and color/design choices visible from the exterior of the units.As condominium unit owners may wish to rent their home to tenants, similar to renting out single-owner real estate, but 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.[citation needed] A homeowners association (HOA), whose members are the unit owners, manages the condominium through a board of directors elected by the membership.Because the official share prices are often lower than the market value and sellers often retain the freedom to select whom to sell to, under-the-table payments are common.This means it is not possible to enforce a positive covenant on successive owners of freehold land, other than to maintain a boundary fence, without creating an elaborate trust.[13] This did not create a significant problem until the 1950s when flats (where ownership is divided horizontally) first began to appear on the market as more affordable, particularly for first-time buyers.This benefited owners whether or not they borrowed money since the purchase was invariably conducted through a solicitor or licensed conveyancer trained to reject leases failing to meet the necessary standards.The statute creating commonholds was motivated by a desire to eliminate some of the problems and perceived injustices, such as the commercial exploitation of lessees by freeholders as their leases began to have too little time left to satisfy lenders.Artificial schemes using the provisions to create enforceable positive covenants in freehold blocks of flats were occasionally mooted but never gained currency.In Finland, a condominium-like arrangement where the ownership of the real estate is assigned to specific apartments (Finnish: hallinnanjakosopimus, Swedish: avtal om delning av besittningen) is usually used only with detached or semi-detached houses.However, shares are not considered as real estate but as personal property and the co-op can take possession of the apartment for a term time and evict the tenant or owner because of disturbance or unpaid maintenance fees.No board approval is needed to buy shares, but in some cases other stockholders or the housing cooperative itself has the right to claim the stocks being sold.[15] It is the basis for all legal regulations involving individual freehold ownership, the rights, and duties of homeowner associations, and the management of condominiums.Condominiums in Hungary are traded and mortgaged on the same market as any free-standing single-family home (Hungarian: kertesház; "garden-house"), and are treated much like other forms of real estate.The condominium acts as a non-profit legal entity maintaining the common areas of the property, and is managed by a representative (Hungarian: közös képviselő) elected by the owners' convention.4218-1 dated December 24, 1992: "Condominium is an association of owners of residential premises in apartment buildings with the establishment of conditions for joint ownership and use of inter-apartment stairs, elevators, corridors, roofs, technical basements, non-apartment engineering equipment, adjacent territory, and other common areas.In Singapore and Malaysia, "Condo" or "Condominium" are terms used for housing buildings with some special luxury features like security guards, swimming pools, or tennis courts.[34] The unit type has seen steady growth in the Thai market over the previous decades, in contrast to the declining percentage in the traditional detached house.[35] The condo development trend continues nationwide as dozens of projects are in progress in Bangkok,[36] several others are underway in the Eastern Economic Corridor provinces of Chon Buri and Rayong, and to the west in Phetchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan.[48] Over the past several decades, the residential condominium industry has been booming in some metropolitan areas, such as Miami, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Chicago, Austin, Los Angeles, and New York City.[50] An alternative form of ownership, popular in parts of the U.S. but found also in other common law jurisdictions, is housing cooperative, also known as "company share" or "co-op".A Housing Cooperative is where the building has an associated legal company and ownership of shares gives the right to a lease for the residence of a unit.[51] Another form is ground rent (solarium) in which a single landlord retains ownership of the land (solum) but leases the surface rights (superficies) which renew in perpetuity or over a very long term.
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