There is a common perception that condos are apartment-style buildings,Guest Posting that townhouses are two-story row houses with adjoining walls, and that garden homes are free-standing houses on small lots. Unfortunately, this perception may create confusion about real estate ownership.
The term “apartment,” “townhouse,” or “garden home” describes the layout and design of certain homes. By contrast, the word “condominium” does not refer to a type of building or construction design. Condominium refers to a form of ownership of real estate. Condos cannot be recognized by observing the building style.
II. Condominiums
The legal definition of condominium is: The London property management absolute ownership of a unit based on a legal description of the airspace the unit actually occupies, plus an undivided interest in the ownership of the common elements, which are owned jointly with the other condominium unit owners. In other words, each owner of a condo unit has individual title to the space inside of his unit. Sometimes the space is described as beginning with “the paint on the walls.” Each unit owner also has an undivided interest in the physical components of the condo building and land.
Condo projects that are built as multi-story apartments are usually recognizable as condos because they don’t have land under each unit. In these developments, the condominium association typically maintains the exterior of the building and common grounds, but not the interiors of the units. An insurance policy is usually held by the association to cover the jointly-owned parts of the property, while the individual owners carry insurance for the interior components of their units. The owners pay a fee to support the maintenance of the common areas. A condominium association makes decisions about expenditures for repairs, and handles administrative work related to the common areas of the project.
While some condo projects look like lofts or apartments, others may look like duplexes, townhomes, garden homes, or residences on regular lots. Generally, creating a condo regime allows the developer to get more density approved than he would if he had done single-ownership lots. This is usually the reason why the condo regime is chosen over the single ownership of lots. It is possible that a condominium may just be two units of a duplex. In this case the two owners may jointly make decisions concerning maintenance of any common areas. By setting up the units of a duplex as two condos, the owner is able to sell them separately to two different owners.