Condominiums and Townhouses - What You Need to Know Before and After Buying. Irfan Alli

words the land each house/unit sits on is owned by the home owner and is tied to the common elements land the Corporation is responsible for. On the common elements land the Corporation is responsible for repairing and maintaining roadways, playgrounds, street lights, etc. that everyone in the complex shares. Each owner takes care of the inside and outside of their unit, including their roofs.

      What is a Phased Condominium?

      This is easy to understand. It is a Condominium Corporation where the developer builds the units in blocks or stages. When stage one is completed and the appropriate number of units sold, a Condominium Corporation is registered consisting of the units built. The developer then builds another stage/block. Once completed, it gets merged into the existing Condominium Corporation. This continues until the entire complex is built. This may not get finished for several years after you have moved in. Beware of the inconvenience.

      What is a Vacant Land Condominium?

      Here, you are buying a piece of land to construct a house of your choice. However, to make the land accessible and sellable, the developer must put in the common elements consisting of roadways, street lights, playgrounds, etc. These make up the Condominium.

      What is a Leasehold Condominium?

      This type of Condominium is built on land that is leased by the developer or a third party to the Condominium Corporation. Lease periods are typically forty or ninety-nine years. The Corporation pays to rent the land, from the maintenance fee collected each month. Will the lease get renewed forever? No one knows.

      What are shared facilities?

      I use to manage three different Condominiums that were on the same complex. They shared roadways, an underground garage and playgrounds. These are called shared facilities. Other examples would include shared security services, parking control and recreational facilities. These are normally overlooked by a committee/board consisting of one or two members from each Corporation.

      SUMMARY

      Condominiums are non-profit Corporations with owners. Owners who have agreed to abide by a declaration, a set of by-laws and rules specific to that Condominium.

      While residential Condominiums are the focus of this book, do keep in mind the nature of Condominiums are changing, and will continue to change. There are conversion Condominiums. It falls into one of the legal categories above. This is a building that was originally an apartment or office building. It was modified and upgraded then converted to a Condominium Corporation. On the inside of the units it may look different from other Condominium buildings. However they appeal to a certain lifestyle and sector of the Condominium market.

      There are Condominium buildings that are exclusively commercial. They may include your small neighborhood shopping plaza as well as the medical building where you go to see your doctor, take your blood test or have an x-ray.

      Others are mixed use where on the bottom floors you may have businesses or even a hotel, and the upper floor residential units. Be clear as to the type of Condominium you are buying into.