What Is A Condominium?
A condominium is a collective ownership in real property. Essentially you own
the space in your unit while the land and amenities are owned in common.
Following are major areas you should understand about living in a condominium:
Ownership: When you purchase a condominium unit, you essentially
purchase an interest in an association, and you control the air space between
the walls, floor and ceiling of your specific unit.
Communal Living: Condominium living is communal living –everyone
has to live together and share the amenities such as the pool, valet parking,
fitness center or garage. To make life as easy as possible most real estate
bodies create an association to govern, manage and maintain the complex.
Association: The main governing body of a condominium is the
owners’ association. Every unit owner is a member of this association,
which typically consists of the individual owners who elect a board of directors.
The term length of board members is usually dictated in the Covent
Conditions and Restrictions (CC&R). Members elect a board to avoid the
problems of having to come to mutual agreement on every problem such as getting
a leak fixed or what temperature to keep the pool.
Larger developments typically employ a management company to handle the daily
affairs, with a representative who is the main contact for individual owners
and their board of directors. This management company performs the same functions
that the owners’ association would perform, simply on a larger scale.
Dues and Assessments: To pay for the cost of maintaining the
complex, the owners’ association’s establishes a monthly fee structure
per unit called dues. These fees pay for the day to day upkeep of the building.
In the event of emergencies that result in unexpected damage to the complex,
the board may elect to pay for the cost through a special assessment. This is
a one time payment to correct the condition. The cost per unit is determined
by the total cost to fix the problem divided by the number of units
Common Area: Everything outside your unit door is considered
the common area. The CC&R dictate the rules around all common areas. The
common areas include:
- Building interior and exterior - Includes the hallways
and lobby, elevators drives, gardens and lawns.
- Building infrastructure - Includes the internal working
of the building such as the pluming and wiring. Check with the association
before doing physical reconstruction on your unit that impacts the building
infrastructure
- Amenities - Includes facilities such as the pool, tennis
courts, fitness center and clubhouses.
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