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113-409: Residential condominiums are frequently constructed as apartment buildings, referred as well as Horizontal Property. There are also rowhouse style condominiums, in which the units open directly to the outside and are not stacked. Alternatively, detached condominiums look like single-family homes , but the yards (gardens), building exteriors, and streets, as well as any recreational facilities (such as

226-471: A condominium , whose residents own their apartments and share ownership of the public spaces. Most apartments are in buildings designed for the purpose, but large older houses are sometimes divided into apartments. The word apartment denotes a residential unit or section in a building. In some locations, particularly the United States, the word connotes a rental unit owned by the building owner, and

339-430: A skyscraper , although a building with fifty or more stories is generally considered a skyscraper. High-rise buildings became possible with the invention of the elevator (lift) and cheaper, more abundant building materials. Their structural system usually is made of reinforced concrete and steel . A low-rise building and mid-rise buildings have fewer stories, but the limits are not always clear. Emporis defines

452-573: A strata , and in Quebec , where they are referred to as syndicates of co-ownership . The townhouse complex of Brentwood Village in Edmonton , Alberta , was the first condominium development in Canada (registered in 1967). With regular condominiums, the unit owner usually owns the internal unit space and a share of the corporation; the corporation owns the exterior of the building land and common area; in

565-505: A ' unit ' refers to flats, apartments or even semi-detached houses. In Australia, the terms " unit ", " flat " and " apartment " are largely used interchangeably. Newer high-rise buildings are more often marketed as " apartments ", as the term " flats " carries colloquial connotations. The term condominium or condo is rarely used in Australia despite attempts by developers to market it. In Malaysian English , flat often denotes

678-488: A (single family) house. 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. Finnish housing cooperatives are incorporated as (non-profit) limited-liability companies ( Finnish : asunto- osakeyhtiö , Swedish : bostadsaktiebolag ), where one share usually represents one square meter (sometimes ten) of

791-560: A building to be classified as "Flats" is four, with a requirement for having at least one elevator or lift for buildings upwards of four floors. Almost all have a separate room called the "Drawing Room", used for guest entertainment purposes. However, its use as a TV room and dining room is common. Another unique feature is the balcony or "terrace", which is standard for all flats. In the Philippines, condominiums are classified into three types: low-rise, mid-rise, and high-rise. Condos have

904-720: A century. City planners have used this process to combat a range a social problems such as community disintegration, economic marginalization, and environmental degradation . The concept was partially employed during the development of new towns in the United Kingdom . The process has been revived as a form of community-led planning in England under the Localism Act 2011 . There is no set process for neighborhood planning. In some cases, such as statutory neighbourhood planning in England, regulations establish formal steps in

1017-581: A common vertical wall are known as semi-detached , or colloquially semis . This form of construction is very common and built as such rather than being a later conversion. This type of apartment developed in the USA during the middle of the 20th century. The term initially described a living space created within a former industrial building, usually 19th century. These large apartments found favor with artists and musicians wanting accommodation in large cities (New York for example) and are related to unused buildings in

1130-433: A condominium is a collection of individual units and common areas along with the land upon which they sit. Individual home ownership within a condominium is construed as ownership of only the air space confining the boundaries of the home. 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. These boundaries may extend to

1243-401: A condominium is in essence an apartment building, as a practical matter, builders tend to build condominiums to higher quality standards than apartment complexes because of the differences between the rental and sale markets. They are typically slightly larger than apartments and are often constructed in a townhouse style in regions where single-family detached homes are common. Technically,

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1356-482: A condominium is purely legal. There is no way to differentiate a condominium from any other residential building simply by looking at it or visiting it. What defines a condominium is the form of ownership. A building developed as a condominium (and sold in individual units to different owners ) could actually be built at another location as (for example) an apartment building (the developers would retain ownership and rent individual units to different tenants ). Where

1469-414: A door in the front and another in the back, or from an underground or otherwise attached parking structure. Depending on the building design, the entrance doors may be connected directly to the outside or to a common area inside, such as a hallway or a lobby. In many American cities, the one-plus-five style of mid-rise, wood-framed apartments have gained significant popularity following a 2009 revision to

1582-477: A few censuses metropolitan areas according to Statistics Canada . Condominiums exist in most parts of Canada, though they are more common in larger cities. They are regulated under provincial or territorial legislation, and specific legal details vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In most parts of Canada, they are referred to as condominiums, except in British Columbia , where they are referred to as

1695-509: A floor-ceiling assembly. Duplex description can be different depending on the part of the US, but generally has two to four dwellings with a door for each and usually two front doors close together but separate—referred to as ' duplex ', indicating the number of units, not the number of floors, as in some areas of the country they are often only one storey. Groups of more than two units have corresponding names (Triplex, etc.). Those buildings that have

1808-409: 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". Among other things, this document can provide for the creation of a governing body or corporation, for example, a Homeowner's Association in the United States. Rules for

1921-765: A freehold owned by a corporation, itself owned by individual leaseholders. This provides an opportunity for them to participate in the proper management of the block. Again, the quality of management is very variable. 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. Since most leasehold developments are undertaken by commercial entities, commonholds did not become widespread. There are, however, other statutes in place that give some degree of protection for leaseholders. It is, nevertheless, essential to consider proper legal advice whenever engaged in

2034-407: A garden apartment shares some characteristics of a townhouse : each apartment has its own building entrance, or shares that entrance via a staircase and lobby that adjoins other units immediately above and/or below it. Unlike a townhouse, each apartment occupies only one level. Such garden apartment buildings are almost never more than three stories high, since they typically lack elevators . However,

2147-425: A high-rise apartment building. In Russia , a communal apartment («коммуналка») is a room with a shared kitchen and bath. A typical arrangement is a cluster of five or so room-apartments with a common kitchen and bathroom and separate front doors, occupying a floor in a pre-Revolutionary mansion. Traditionally a room is owned by the government and assigned to a family on a semi-permanent basis. A serviced apartment

2260-502: A housing block of two rooms with walk-up, no lift, without facilities, typically five stories tall, and with outdoor parking space, while apartment is more generic and may also include luxury condominiums. In Japanese English loanwords ( Wasei-eigo ), the term apartment ( アパート apaato ) is used for lower-income housing and mansion ( マンション manshon ) is used for high-end apartments; but both terms refer to what English-speakers regard as an apartment. This use of

2373-639: A local referendum. If successful at referendum, the Neighbourhood Development Plan becomes a statutory planning document that the Local Planning Authority must consider in future planning decisions. A community right to build order is "a particular type of neighbourhood development order", established by the Localism Act, enabling a "community organisation ... established for the express purpose of furthering

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2486-427: A low-rise as "an enclosed structure below 35 metres [115 feet] which is divided into regular floor levels." The city of Toronto defines a mid-rise as a building between 4 and 12 stories. In American English , the distinction between rental apartments and condominiums is that while rental buildings are owned by a single entity and rented out to many, condominiums are owned individually, while their owners still pay

2599-511: A lower tax liability in an office condominium than in an office rented from a taxable, for-profit company. However, the frequent turnover of commercial land uses in particular can make the inflexibility of condominium arrangements problematic. In Australia, condominiums are known as " strata title schemes " or "community title schemes". The 2011 National Household Survey (NHS) showed that one in eight Canadian households lived in condominium dwellings, colloquially known as "condos", mostly located in

2712-410: A luxury hotel, residents could enjoy the additional facilities such as house keeping, laundry, catering and other services if and when desired. A feature of these apartment blocks was quite glamorous interiors with lavish bathrooms but no kitchen or laundry spaces in each flat. This style of living became very fashionable as many upper-class people found they could not afford as many live-in staff after

2825-438: A monthly fee for building upkeep. Co-ops are common in cities such as New York, and have gained some popularity in other larger urban areas in the U.S. In British English & Canadian English the usual word is " flat ", but apartment is used by property developers to denote expensive "flats" in exclusive and expensive residential areas in, for example, parts of London such as Belgravia and Hampstead . In Scotland, it

2938-437: A monthly or yearly fee for building upkeep. Condominiums are often leased by their owner as rental apartments. A third alternative, the cooperative apartment building (or " co-op "), acts as a corporation with all of the tenants as shareholders of the building. Tenants in cooperative buildings do not own their apartment, but instead own a proportional number of shares of the entire cooperative. As in condominiums, cooperators pay

3051-405: A neighborhood boundary. More than one neighborhood district may attempt to claim a certain street or group of homes. Less problematic neighborhood boundary definitions are sometimes based on existing natural boundaries such as rivers, existing administrative boundaries, or based on census information. After the boundaries of the plan are established, those leading the plan should decide how to get

3164-479: A neighbourhood plan can be drafted. Successful neighbourhood plans typically seek to deliver community wishes in ways that are supported by the underpinning evidence. This may be achieved by generating policy alternatives before consulting again with the wider community to decide among them. The next step is to figure out how to implement the plan the committee has created. This requires the planning committee to decide what actions need to take place effectively implement

3277-417: A non-profit corporation, in which the tenants own shares; each share carries the right and duty to lease an apartment from the cooperative. Shares can be bought and sold, but often the cooperative's rules strictly limit the price for which they may change hands. (In contrast, condominiums are traded on a free market). Because the official share prices are often lower than the market value and sellers often retain

3390-502: A pool, bowling alley, tennis courts, and golf course), are jointly owned and maintained by a community association . Many shopping malls are commercial condominiums in which the individual retail and office spaces are owned by the businesses that occupy them, while the common areas of the mall are collectively owned by all the business entities that own the individual spaces. Unlike apartments, which are leased by their tenants , in most systems condominium units are owned outright, and

3503-523: A private landlord. The term apartment is favoured in North America (although in some Canadian cities, flat is used for a unit which is part of a house containing two or three units, typically one to a floor ). In the UK, the term apartment is more usual in professional real estate and architectural circles where otherwise the term flat is used commonly, but not exclusively, for an apartment on

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3616-469: A residential building which is occupied separately, usually on more than one floor and having its own outside entrance." It differs from a flat in having usually more than one floor, with a staircase internal to the dwelling leading from the entrance floor to the upper (or, in some cases, lower) other floor. It is a very common arrangement in much post-war British housing (especially but not exclusively public housing) and serves both to reduce costs by reducing

3729-576: A shared bathroom. A bedsit is not self-contained and so is not an apartment or flat as this article uses the terms; it forms part of what the UK government calls a house in multiple occupation . The American variant of the bedsit is the single room occupancy . Merriam-Webster defines a garden apartment in American English as "a multiple-unit low-rise dwelling having considerable lawn or garden space." The apartment buildings are often arranged around courtyards that are open at one end. Such

3842-515: A single level (hence a "flat" apartment). In some countries, the word " unit " is a more general term referring to both apartments and rental business suites . The word 'unit' is generally used only in the context of a specific building. "Mixed-use buildings" combine commercial and residential uses within the same structure. Typically, mixed-use buildings consist of businesses on the lower floors (often retail in street-facing ground floor and supporting subterranean levels) and residential apartments on

3955-656: A special type of ownership title called a CCT - condominium certificate of title. Condominiums usually have amenities, like swimming pools, owned parking, a clubhouse, and a building for administration. Initially, the concept of a condominium was introduced by the Federal Law "On the Fundamentals of the Federal Housing Policy" No. 4218-1 dated December 24, 1992: "Condominium is an association of owners of residential premises in apartment buildings with

4068-445: A tenant moves in with his own furniture. Serviced apartments , intended to be convenient for shorter stays, include soft furnishings and kitchen utensils , and maid service . Laundry facilities may reside in a common area accessible to all building tenants, or each apartment may have its own facilities. Depending on when the building was built and its design, utilities such as water, heating, and electricity may be common for all of

4181-538: A third storey are known as triplexes. See Three-decker (house) In the United States, regional forms have developed, see vernacular architecture . In Milwaukee , a Polish flat or "raised cottage" is a small house that has been lifted up to accommodate a basement floor housing a separate apartment, then set down again, thus becoming a modest pair of dwellings. In the Sun Belt , boxy small apartment buildings called dingbats , often with carports below, sprang up from

4294-422: A view of and access to a garden or lawn", although its citations acknowledge that the reference to a garden may be illusory. "Garden flat" can serve simply as a euphemism for a basement. The large Georgian or Victorian townhouse was built with an excavated subterranean space around its front known as an area , often surrounded by cast iron railings. This lowest floor housed the kitchen, the main place of work for

4407-428: Is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate ) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are many names for these overall buildings (see below). The housing tenure of apartments also varies considerably, from large-scale public housing , to owner occupancy within what is legally a condominium ( strata title or commonhold ) or leasehold , to tenants renting from

4520-423: Is any-size space for residential living that includes regular maid and cleaning services provided by the rental agent. Serviced apartments or serviced flats developed in the early part of the 20th century and were briefly fashionable in the 1920s and 30s. They are intended to combine the best features of luxury and self-contained apartments, often being an adjunct of a hotel . Like guests semi-permanently installed in

4633-464: Is assigned to specific apartments ( Finnish : hallinnanjakosopimus , Swedish : avtal om delning av besittningen ) is usually used only with detached or semi-detached houses. A housing cooperative is a common form of home ownership in Finland. Owning shares that correspond to one apartment in a housing company is generally considered as much owning your own home as actually directly owning

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4746-451: Is called a block of flats or, if it is a traditional sandstone building, a tenement , a term which has a negative connotation elsewhere. In India, the word " flat " is used to refer to multi-story dwellings that have lifts. Australian English and New Zealand English traditionally used the term flat (although it also applies to any rental property), and more recently also use the terms unit or apartment . In Australia,

4859-399: Is commonly referred to as a residential tower , apartment tower , or block of flats in Australia. A high-rise building is defined by its height differently in various jurisdictions . It may be only residential, in which case it might also be called a tower block, or it might include other functions such as hotels, offices, or shops. There is no clear difference between a tower block and

4972-410: Is not typically used for a condominium. In England and Wales, some flat owners own shares in the company that owns the freehold of the building as well as holding the flat under a lease. This arrangement is commonly known as a "share of freehold" flat. The freehold company has the right to collect annual ground rents from each of the flat owners in the building. The freeholder can also develop or sell

5085-411: Is owned jointly by the apartment owners, who execute their joint ownership through an owner's association . The expenses of maintaining the joint property are shared pro rata among the owners. Another 5% of Danish homes are in housing cooperatives (Danish andelsbolig ), which occupy a legal position intermediate between condominiums and housing associations . The entire property is legally owned by

5198-474: Is particular concern regarding the potential capture of the public into the sphere of influence of governance stakeholders, leaving communities frustrated by participatory initiatives. In England, where communities may produce statutory Neighbourhood Development Plans, evidence has shown that neighborhood planning has promoted sustainability and social purpose in the housing market, however it has also been critiqued for concentrating too heavily on housing growth at

5311-492: Is the "time share", although not all time shares are condominiums, and not all time shares involve actual ownership of (i.e., deeded title to) real property. Condominiums may be found in both civil law and common law legal systems as it is purely a creation of statute . Among other things, the HOA assesses unit owners for the costs of maintaining the common areas, etc. That is, the HOA decides how much each owner should pay and has

5424-492: Is their use of two separate front doors onto the street, each door leading to a single flat. "Maisonette" could also stretch to cottage flats , also known as 'four-in-a-block flats', a style of housing common in Scotland. The vast majority of apartments are on one level, hence "flat". Some, however, have two storeys joined internally by stairs, just like many houses. One term for this is "maisonette", as above. Some housing in

5537-510: The Classic Period Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan , apartments were not only the standard means of housing the city's population of over 200,000 inhabitants, but show a remarkably even wealth distribution for the entire city, even by contemporary standards. Furthermore, the apartments were inhabited by the general populace as a whole, in contrast to other Pre-Modern socieites, where apartments were limited to housing

5650-559: The International Building Code ; these buildings typically feature four wood-framed floors above a concrete podium and are popular with developers due to their high density and relatively lower construction costs. The Puebloan peoples of what is now the Southwestern United States have constructed large, multi-room dwellings, some comprising more than 900 rooms, since the 10th century. In

5763-578: The downtown (British English town- or city-centre area have the benefits of proximity to jobs and/or public transportation . However prices per square foot are often much higher than in suburban areas. Moving up in size from studio flats are one-bedroom apartments, which contain a bedroom enclosed from the other rooms of the apartment, usually by an internal door. This is followed by two-bedroom, three-bedroom, etc. Apartments with more than three bedrooms are rare. Small apartments often have only one entrance. Large apartments often have two entrances, perhaps

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5876-629: The homeowner association represents an entity with rights and duties that may include contracts. The right of ownership is divided in the first article of the WoEigG into homeownership, individual freehold ownership, part ownership, and commonhold ownership. In Greece, condominiums became very popular in the 1960s. It is a building one sees everywhere in Greece, since most of its population lives in big cities. They are known as πολυκατοικίες ( polykatoikíes ), literally "multi-residences". In Hong Kong

5989-483: The neighborhood as a spatial unit has a long and contested history. In 1915, Robert E. Park and E. W. Burgess introduced the idea of "neighborhood" as an ecological concept with urban planning implications. Since then, many concepts and ideas of a neighborhood have emerged, including the influential concept of the neighborhood unit . The history of neighborhood planning in the United States extends over

6102-457: The 1950s. In the United Kingdom the term duplex is usually applied to an apartment with two storeys (with an internal staircase), neither of which is located at ground level. Such homes are frequently found in low-cost rental housing, in apartment blocks constructed by local authorities, or above street-level retail units, where they may be occupied by the occupier of the retail unit or rented out separately. Buildings containing two dwellings with

6215-627: The First World War and revelled in a "lock-up and leave" life style that serviced apartment hotels supplied. Some buildings have been subsequently renovated with standard facilities in each apartment, but serviced apartment hotel complexes continue to be constructed. Recently a number of hotels have supplemented their traditional business model with serviced apartment wings, creating privately owned areas within their buildings - either freehold or leasehold . Apartments may be available for rent furnished, with furniture, or unfurnished into which

6328-430: The US and Canada, or studio flat in the UK. These units usually consist of a large single main room which acts as the living room, dining room and bedroom combined and usually also includes kitchen facilities, with a separate bathroom. In Korea, the term "one room" ( wonroom ) refers to a studio apartment. A bedsit is a UK variant on single room accommodation: a bed-sitting room, probably without cooking facilities, with

6441-504: The United Kingdom , both public and private, was designed as scissor section flats . On a grander level, penthouses may have more than one storey to emphasise the idea of space and luxury. Two-storey units in new construction are sometimes referred to as " townhouses " in some countries (though not usually in Britain). " Duplex " refers to two separate units horizontally adjacent, with a common demising wall , or vertically adjacent, with

6554-412: The amount of space given to access corridors and to emulate the 'traditional' two-storey terraced house to which many of the residents had been accustomed. It also allows for apartments, even when they are accessed by a corridor, to have windows on both sides of the building. A maisonette could encompass Tyneside flats , pairs of single-storey flats within a two-storey terrace . Their distinctive feature

6667-566: The apartment. Membership in a condo is obtained by buying the shares on the open market, most often through a real estate agent. 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. There is usually no requirement for the owner(s) to live in the condo. Owning apartments for rent is a common form of saving and private investment in Finland. In Germany, condominiums are known as Eigentumswohnungen ( lit.   ' ownership dwellings ' ) and

6780-575: The apartments, or separate for each apartment and billed separately to each tenant. (Many areas in the US have ruled it illegal to split a water bill among all the tenants, especially if a pool is on the premises.) Outlets for connection to telephones are typically included in apartments. Telephone service is optional and is almost always billed separately from the rent payments. Cable television and similar amenities also cost extra. Parking space(s), air conditioning , and extra storage space may or may not be included with an apartment. Rental leases often limit

6893-474: The area and how the residents use it. Community development practitioners are often asked to assist with consultation as they can act as an independent facilitator to engagement. Planners can then combine the information they have gathered from residents with other evidence at their disposal. This might include retail or employment surveys, demographic data or housing needs assessments. Once data from community consultation and evidence collection have been collated,

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7006-426: The association may be in the master deed, or could be a separate set of bylaws governing the internal affairs of the condominium. Matters addressed in the condominium bylaws may include the responsibilities of the owners' association, voting procedures to be used at association meetings , the qualifications, powers, and duties of the board of directors, and the powers and duties of the officers. The Bylaws may also cover

7119-674: The building, subject to the usual planning and restrictions that might apply. This situation does not happen in Scotland, where long leasehold of residential property was formerly unusual, and is now impossible. Apartment buildings are multi-story buildings where three or more residences are contained within one structure. Such a building may be called an apartment building , apartment complex , flat complex , block of flats , tower block , high-rise or, occasionally, mansion block (in British English), especially if it consists of many apartments for rent. A high-rise apartment building

7232-407: The case of a freehold condominium the owner owns the land and building and the corporation owns common shared roadways and amenities. The Canadian Condominium Institute is a non-profit association of condominium owners and corporations with chapters in each province and territory. The Condo Owners Association COA Ontario is a non-profit association representing condominium owners with divisions across

7345-566: The condominium ( "Condominio" ) is governed by law, last reformed in 2012. Co-ownership of the common parts of the buildings (such as the stairs, main walls, facades, roof, and courtyards) is mandatory: a landlord can not give up the right to common parts for not paying the costs. Each owner's quota in the condominium is expressed in thousandths ( "millesimi" ) of the whole; these are used to determine majorities in owners' assemblies ( "assemblee condominiali" ). See housing cooperative under owners association . Condominiums (Norwegian Eierseksjon )

7458-455: The decaying parts of such cities being occupied illegally by people squatting . These loft apartments were usually located in former high-rise warehouses and factories left vacant after town planning rules and economic conditions in the mid 20th century changed. The resulting apartments created a new bohemian lifestyle and were arranged in a completely different way from most urban living spaces, often including workshops and art studio spaces. As

7571-448: The development is built on leased land. 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. A homeowners association (HOA), whose members are

7684-470: The disputed territory. For example, from 1818 to 1846, Oregon Country was a condominium over which both the United States and Great Britain shared joint sovereignty until the Oregon Treaty resolved the issue by splitting the territory along the 49th parallel and each country gaining sole sovereignty of one side. The distinction between a complex of residences, such as an apartment building, and

7797-577: The equivalent legal structures of a condominium is commonhold , a form of ownership introduced in September 2004. As of 3 June 2009, there were 12 commonhold residential developments comprising 97 units in England and one commonhold residential development, comprising 30 units, in Wales. "Condominium" is not a term that is widely used in England and Wales. Commonhold is a creature of statute and comparatively rare, and condominiums are more likely to be found in

7910-411: The equivalent to a condominium is a "multi-owner building" or "building in multiple ownership". These are sometimes part of a private housing estate comprising multiple buildings but often consist of a single building owned in common. The relationships among the parties, including rights of exclusive occupation of flats and parking spaces, are defined by the deed of mutual covenant ("DMC", analogous to

8023-465: 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. In Singapore, most houses without such features are built by

8136-480: The expenditure of money to perform. 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. Until then flats had been confined to short-term unsaleable tenancies, with varying degrees of statutory rent protection and security of tenure. It was soon learned that freehold flats were an unsatisfactory form of ownership because it

8249-526: The exterior of the units. Generally, these sets of rules and regulations are made available to residents and or as a matter of public record, via a condominium or homeowners association website, or through public files, depending on the state and its applicable laws. Condominiums are usually owned in fee simple title , but can be owned in ways that other real estate can be owned, such as title held in trust . In some jurisdictions, such as Ontario , Canada, or Hawaii US, there are "leasehold condominiums" where

8362-404: The exteriors of the dwellings or yards, and "site condominiums", where the owner has more control and possibly ownership (as in a "whole lot" or "lot line" condominium) over the exterior appearance. These structures are preferred by some planned neighborhoods and gated communities . The description of the condominium units and the common areas and any restrictions on their use are established in

8475-560: The first "garden apartment" buildings in New York, US, built in the early 1900s, were constructed five stories high. Some garden apartment buildings place a one-car garage under each apartment. The interior grounds are often landscaped. In Chicago , a garden apartment refers to a basement apartment . The Oxford English Dictionary defines the use of "garden flat" in British English as "a basement or ground-floor flat with

8588-568: The first examples of apartments popularly named 'salon apartments', with the concept of spatial and functional organization later spreading to other larger urban centers in Yugoslavia. Maisonette (a corruption of maisonnette , French for "little house" and originally the spelling in English as well, but it has since fallen into disuse) has no strict definition, but the OED suggests "a part of

8701-469: The form of leaseholds because of long-standing legal differences between leasehold and freehold tenure. By virtue of the landmark case of Tulk v Moxhay , in English law only restrictive covenants can be enforced against freehold land. 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. A positive covenant is, broadly, one that involves

8814-435: The freedom to select whom to sell to, under-the-table payments are common. Current public policy favors condominiums over housing cooperatives, and recent legislation has aimed at making the latter more condominium-like. For example, since 2005, cooperative shares may be used to secure bank loans. (However, Danish mortgage banks still may not mortgage individual housing cooperative apartments.) In England and Wales , one of

8927-435: The governmental Housing Development Board (HDB), and such HDB units can be possessed for rent or individually bought from the government. Condominiums and HDB flats make up the overwhelming majority of available residential housing in the country. Apartment An apartment ( American English , Canadian English ), flat ( British English , Indian English , South African English ) , or unit ( Australian English )

9040-468: The individual owners. The common areas, amenities, and utilities are managed collectively by the owners through their association, such as a homeowner association or its equivalent. Scholars have traced the earliest known use of the condominium form of tenure to a document from first-century Babylon . The word condominium originated in Latin . Condominium is an invented Latin word formed by adding

9153-546: The interior side of the walls surrounding a condo, allowing the homeowner to make some interior modifications without impacting the common area. Anything outside this boundary is held in an undivided ownership interest by a corporation established at the time of the condominium's creation. The corporation holds this property in trust on behalf of the homeowners as a group—it may not have ownership itself. Some condominium complexes consist of single-family dwellings. There are also "detached condominiums" where homeowners do not maintain

9266-411: The involvement of as many residents as possible is desirable, or the outcome may lack critical information and perspectives and thus not fully represent the desires of the neighborhood residents. Many strategies may be used to involve neighborhood residents in the planning process and outreach methods may be used to generate interest. Planners can involve neighbors by collecting data and information about

9379-416: The legal power to collect that. Condominium ownership is also used, albeit less frequently, for non-residential land uses: offices, hotel rooms, retail shops, private airports, marinas, group housing facilities (retirement homes or dormitories), bare land (in British Columbia ) and storage . The legal structure is the same, and many of the benefits are similar; for instance, a nonprofit corporation may face

9492-480: The lower class members of the society, as with the somewhat contemporary Roman insulae . Planned neighborhood Neighborhood planning is a form of urban planning through which professional urban planners and communities seek to shape new and existing neighborhoods. It can denote the process of creating a physical neighborhood plan, for example via participatory planning , or an ongoing process through which neighborhood affairs are decided. The concept of

9605-567: The mailboxes or some other location accessible by outsiders, a buzzer (equivalent to a doorbell ) may be available for each individual unit. In smaller apartment buildings such as two- or three-flats, or even four-flats, rubbish is often disposed of in trash containers similar to those used at houses. In larger buildings, rubbish is often collected in a common trash bin or dumpster. For cleanliness or minimizing noise, many lessors will place restrictions on tenants regarding smoking or keeping pets in an apartment. In more urban areas, apartments close to

9718-639: The main house, or a free-standing structure in its grounds. Salon apartment is a term linked to the exclusive apartments built as part of multi-family houses in Belgrade and in certain towns in Yugoslavia in the first decades of the 20th century. The structure of the apartments included centrally located anteroom with a combined function of the dining room and one or more salon areas. Most of these apartments were built in Belgrade ( Serbia ), along with

9831-604: The master deed described above) and the Building Management Ordinance Cap. 344. Condominiums are a very common form of real estate ownership in contemporary Hungary, as most state- or municipality-owned apartments were privatized following the end of socialism in Hungary in 1989. Historically, condominiums ( Hungarian : társasház ) were formalized as a legal ownership structure as early as 1924. Condominiums in Hungary are traded and mortgaged on

9944-425: The maximum number of residents in each apartment. On or around the ground floor of the apartment building, a series of mailboxes are typically kept in a location accessible to the public and, thus, to the mail carrier . Every unit typically gets its own mailbox with individual keys to it. Some very large apartment buildings with a full-time staff may take mail from the carrier and provide mail-sorting service. Near

10057-484: The most important law considering condominiums is the Wohnungseigentumsgesetz (abbreviated WoEigG). It is the basis for all legal regulations involving individual freehold ownership, the rights, and duties of homeowner associations, and the management of condominiums. The WoEigG dates back to 1951, but it was re-enacted in 2007. Now, homeowners are invested with partial legal capacity, which means that

10170-534: The obligations of the owners with regard to assessments, maintenance, and use of the units and common areas, although those obligations are often found in the condominium's founding documents. Finally, they may set limits on the conduct of unit owners and residents. These are more readily amendable than the declaration or association bylaws, typically requiring only a vote of the governing body. Typical rules include mandatory maintenance fees (perhaps collected monthly), pet restrictions, and color/design choices visible from

10283-536: The other being a Co-operative Housing Society (CHS) or Co-operative Group Housing Society (CGHS), which needs to be registered with the municipal authorities. Iranian government has begun supporting villas and opposing apartment building concerned by people's manner. In Israel, condominiums (known "בתים משותפים" , "shared houses" or "cooperative houses") are a common form of home ownership. Public housing has historically been organized as subsidized purchases and mortgages in government-constructed condominiums. In Italy,

10396-409: The owner's family member, the self-contained dwelling may be known as an "in-law apartment", "annexe", or "granny flat", though these (sometimes illegally) created units are often occupied by ordinary renters rather than the landlord's relative. In Canada these are commonly located below the main house and are therefore "basement suites". Another term is an "accessory dwelling unit", which may be part of

10509-535: 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

10622-790: The owners themselves; in the 21st century, however, the owners' convention typically hires a professional building manager who does not personally live in the building. Decisions that involve changes to the terms and conditions, or larger common expenses, still need to be approved by the convention, however. Voting power is based on the percentage of property owned. In India, condominiums are known as "Apartments" or "Apartment Buildings/Complexes" or "Societies" or "Flats". Each building consists of multiple floors and flats/living units with different configurations. The most common configurations are "1-BHK", "2-BHK" and "3-BHK" (BHK stands for bedroom-hall-kitchen). The association of homeowners has many names - two common names are Resident Welfare Association (RWA) and

10735-411: The plan. The committee must decide what resources are available, and how to create more available resources. The final step of neighborhood planning is generally considered to be evaluating and monitoring. Planning and sustaining a functional neighborhood involves iterations of work and decision-making, and so plans may also be revised or replaced by a new plan. A statutory form of neighborhood planning

10848-462: The prefix con- 'together' to the word dominium 'dominion, ownership'. Its meaning is, therefore, 'joint dominion' or 'co-ownership'. Condominia (the Latin plural of condominium ) originally referred to territories over which two or more sovereign powers shared joint sovereignty. This technique was frequently used to settle border disputes when multiple claimants could not agree on how to partition

10961-638: The process such as being designated by the Local Planning Authority . The following six steps are typical of a general neighborhood planning process: The first step in planning for a neighborhood is to define the boundaries of the neighborhood. Neighborhoods can be difficult to define geographically, although neighborhood planning can work with all scales of area, from urban neighborhoods to rural areas. The process of defining boundaries can sometimes be problematic, for example if some areas do not want certain streets or houses to be included within

11074-410: The province and districts within the various municipalities. Apartments (Danish ejerlejlighed , literally "owner-apartment") comprise some 5% of Danish homes. They are traded and mortgaged on the same markets as freestanding houses, and are treated legally much like other forms of real estate. Each owner-tenant directly owns their own apartment; the rest of the building and the ground on which it stands

11187-480: The provisions to create enforceable positive covenants in freehold blocks of flats were occasionally mooted but never gained currency. On 21 July 2020 the UK Law Commission reported on the existing difficulties and made proposals to improve the law and encourage the acceptance of commonhold as the preferred form of tenure. In Finland, a condominium-like arrangement where the ownership of the real estate

11300-413: The purchase of a flat, for the requirements for a fully marketable flat remain complex. The Law of Property Act 1925 , s. 153, contains provisions for the "enlargement" of leases into freeholds, one of the effects of which is to preserve the enforceability of positive covenants contained in the lease against the resulting freehold. There are clear, but stringent, requirements. Artificial schemes using

11413-401: 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. Historically, this representative was one of

11526-427: The security of flats unless certain basic provisions were included. 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. Despite these standards, the actual form of leasehold systems is variable. Highly favoured are arrangements where the leases are granted out of

11639-476: The servants, with a "tradesman's entrance" via the area stairs. This "lower ground floor" (another euphemism) has proven ideal for conversion to a self-contained "garden flat". One American term for this arrangement is an English basement . Generally on the lowest (below ground) floor of a building. A unit in the attic of a building and usually converted from domestic servants' quarters. These apartments are characterized by their sloping walls, which can restrict

11752-478: The social, economic and environmental well-being of individuals living, or wanting to live, in a particular area" to take a lead role in planning the development of a locality or neighbourhood. The community right to build is one of a set of community rights established under the Localism Act, alongside the community right to challenge and the community right to bid. Efforts to promote public participation through neighborhood planning have been widely critiqued. There

11865-399: The supply of old buildings of a suitable nature has dried up, developers have responded by constructing new buildings in the same aesthetic with varying degrees of success. [1] An industrial, warehouse, or commercial space converted to an apartment is commonly called a loft , although some modern lofts are built by design. A penthouse is an apartment usually located on the top floor of

11978-726: The term mansion has a parallel with British English 's mansion block , a term denoting prestigious apartment buildings from the Victorian and Edwardian , which usually feature an ornate facade and large, high-ceilinged flats with period features. Danchi is the Japanese word for a large cluster of apartment buildings of a particular style and design, typically built as public housing by government authorities. See Housing in Japan . The smallest self-contained apartments are referred to as studio, efficiency or bachelor apartments in

12091-399: The unit owners, manages the condominium through a board of directors elected by the membership. This exists under various names depending on the jurisdiction, such as "unit title", "sectional title", " commonhold ", "strata council", or " tenant-owner's association ", "body corporate", "Owners Corporation", "condominium corporation" or "condominium association". Another variation of this concept

12204-429: The upper floors. Tenement law refers to the feudal basis of permanent property such as land or rents. It may be found combined as in " Messuage or Tenement" to encompass all the land, buildings and other assets of a property. In the United States, some apartment-dwellers own their units, either as a housing cooperative , in which the residents own shares of a corporation that owns the building or development; or in

12317-411: The usable space; the resultant stair climb in buildings that do not have elevators and the sloping walls can make garret apartments less desirable than units on lower floors. However, because these apartments are located on the top floors of their buildings, they can offer the best views and are quieter because of the lack of upstairs neighbours. When part of a house is converted for the ostensible use of

12430-443: The wider neighborhood involved with the planning process. To define the goals of the plan, public participation of local residents and stakeholders is often considered central. A city official may do all of the planning with minimal contact or input from the residents or the plan may undertaken by a self-selected group of residents who do not seek or else ignore input from others in the neighborhood. However it typically assumed that

12543-506: Was formally introduced in 1983. Approximately 19% of Norwegian homes are condominiums, as approximately 50% of the owner-occupied flats and duplexes, approximately 30% of the rowhouses, and 2.5% of the detached houses are organized as condominiums. The title "Condominiums" is not used in Pakistan rather they are called "Flats" for average-style buildings while "Complexes" for sophisticated and larger buildings. The minimum number of floors for

12656-489: Was introduced in England by the Localism Act 2011 . This allowed designated qualifying bodies (either a Parish or Town Council , or neighbourhood forum made of up of local residents) to produce a Neighbourhood Development Plan setting planning policy for the relevant neighbourhood. Neighbourhood Development Plans must pass certain Basic Conditions to the satisfaction of an independent examiner before advancing to

12769-487: Was not possible to impose essential maintenance requirements. As such, flats became virtually unmarketable because they were an unacceptable form of security to lenders. Thus solicitors, the principal property lawyers in England and Wales in those days, began to use leases instead, where such limitations did not apply. Progress was haphazard and piecemeal, but over time things became more standard. Improvements became universal as institutional lenders refused to advance money on

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