What is a condominium?

Many times I have found that many people do not know exactly what a Condominium is. A lot of people think Condo is an apartment which can be bought and then they have to pay monthly maintenance fee. Yes Apartment can be a condo and yes you do have to pay maintenance but that is not all. A Condo is a type of ownership, not a type of property.

To understand the difference between type of ownership and type of property let us first look at 3 main types of ownership in Ontario.

• Freehold. This is the type to which most people will refer when they are thinking of buy a house (not an apartment). When you buy a freehold you acquire interest in land and property which is on that land and enjoy full rights of use, hold and sell, subject to restrictions from local bylaws and final interest of Crown and or there may be any other restrictions placed when it was purchased. You as a owner do not pay any maintenance fee, but you are responsible for all repairs, maintenance, improvements etc. It is your house. This can be sometimes costly.
• Co-operatives is the type of ownership where a corporation owns the residential building with multiple units. Each share holder is given right to one housing unit subject to agreement which resembles a lease. Simply speaking a person who want to own but financially not ready joins group of people who together acquire a real estate with multiple units or homes and that person is given a right to live in one of the unit. You need co-op board’s approval to sell or modify. This type is little complicated, not much popular.
• Condominium. This is the type of owner the ownership which is the reason you are reading this article.  It is a type where a single unit of real estate is owned, while use and access of common facilities like hallways, elevators, lobby, gym, pool and exterior is controlled by the board of directors formed by the association of owners.  A management company is hired and each owner pays a maintenace fee.

Now Let us briefly look at some types of homes.

• Detached – is the type where a house is built on the piece of land which is not connected to any other house from any side. This type is most desired, but it is costly. Owners of this type enjoys the maximum price appreciation as compared to other property types.
• Semi-detached – is normally attached to another house or unit. Basically it looks like a detached house turned into two houses seperated buy wall in the middle. These house are normally less costly as compared to Detached. And appreciate in price little less as compared to detached.
• Link – is a house normally looks like a detached from out side or some times it may be connected from garage only, but they are linked from the foundation. I have not seen people giving me negative feed back about this type of property. Most people who want the cost be lower but look like detached they don’t care if it is linked from foundation.
• Townhomes – These are multi units connected together. Buying a corner townhome just feels like a semi-detached. Low cost as compared to semi or detached.
• Apartment – It is a residential unit in hi rise or low rise buildings. Most of them are two bed room, but a lot f building offer 3 to 4 bed room unit. Cost is low as compared to all of above property types.

Conclusion:

Now that we know types of property and type of ownership are two different things. We can say that Condominium is type of ownership in which a single residential unit is owned and a maintenace fee is paid to property management company to maintain the building. This can be an apartment, Townhome,  a semi-detached or a detached. Majority of condos is found in apartments that is probably why generally when a condo is mentioned people think it is an apartment. Another reason can be is that I have never seen an apartment as freehold. They are either rentals or Condos.

If you find the info in this article were useful please do leave your comments.

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