Australia In Australia, condominiums are known as "
strata title schemes" or "community title schemes".
Canada The 2011 National Household Survey (NHS) showed that one in eight Canadian households lived in condominium dwellings, colloquially known as "condos", mostly located in 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 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 the case of a
freehold condominium the owner owns the land and building and the corporation owns common shared roadways and amenities.
Denmark 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 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 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 the freedom to select whom to sell to, under-the-table payments occur. "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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
Finland , Finland In Finland, a condominium-like arrangement where the ownership of the real estate is assigned to specific apartments (, ) 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 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 (, ), where one share usually represents one square meter (sometimes ten) of 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.
Germany In Germany, condominiums are known as () and the most important law considering condominiums is the (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 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.
Greece , Greece. 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 (), literally "multi-residences".
Hong Kong In Hong Kong 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 the master deed described above) and the Building Management Ordinance Cap. 344.
Hungary 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 communism in Hungary in 1989. Historically, condominiums () were formalized as a legal ownership structure as early as 1924. Condominiums in Hungary are traded and mortgaged on the same market as any free-standing single-family home (; "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 () elected by the owners' convention. Historically, this representative was one of 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.
India 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 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.
Iran Iranian government has begun supporting villas and opposing apartment building concerned by people's manner.
Israel 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.
Italy In Italy, 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").
The Netherlands See
housing cooperative under
owners association.
Norway Condominiums (Norwegian
Eierseksjon) 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.
Pakistan 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 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.
Philippines In the Philippines, condominiums are classified into three types: low-rise, mid-rise, and high-rise. Condos have 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.
Russia 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 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.
Singapore In
Singapore, "condo" or "condominium" are terms used for private apartment buildings, which generally have features such as security guards and communal sports facilities. This differentiates them from
public housing apartment buildings built by the
Housing and Development Board (referred to as "HDB flats"), which typically have less extensive facilities. Condominiums and HDB flats make up the overwhelming majority of available residential housing in the country. As of 2024, 77.4% of households lived in HDB flats, while 17.7% lived in condominiums.
South Africa In South Africa, condominiums are known as "Sectional Title" properties and are governed by the Sectional Titles Act No. 95 of 1986. Town-house complexes and many apartment blocks typically have this form of title. The owners of the complex constitute the Body Corporate, and the Body Corporate elects a group of Trustees to manage the day-to-day management of the complex, who often hire a company specialising in complex management, known as a Managing Agent.
Spain In Spain, condominiums are known as "comunidad de propietarios" (legal term) and "comunidad de vecinos" (popular term), and are governed by the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal (L.P.H.) which significantly extends the Spanish Civil Code. L.P.H. became the law in 1960 and more than half of the Spanish population live in condominiums. According to
INE, there are almost 840,000 condominiums in Spain which comprise around 9 million habitat buildings.
Sweden On 1 May 2009, condominiums (
ägarlägenheter) became available for the first time under Swedish law. Of the 14,447 newly built apartments completed in 2009, only six were condominiums. A majority of production, 7,723 units, were apartments in
housing cooperatives (
bostadsrättslägenheter), the traditional form of owner-occupied apartment housing. As of late 2014, there were 955 condominiums total throughout all of Sweden.
Thailand Nationwide, as of February 2018,
Bangkok represented 58% of Thailand's new construction condominium market while the other provinces accounted for the remaining 42%. The unit type has seen steady growth in the Thai market over the previous decades, in contrast to the declining percentage in the traditional detached house. The condo development trend continues nationwide as dozens of projects are in progress in Bangkok, several others are underway in the
Eastern Economic Corridor provinces of Chon Buri and Rayong, and to the west in Phetchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan.
Vietnam In
Vietnam, condominiums have become increasingly popular, especially in urban areas like
Hanoi and
Ho Chi Minh City. The Law on Residential Housing (No. 65/2014/QH13), effective since July 1, 2015, allows foreigners to purchase condominiums in Vietnam. However, there are restrictions: foreigners can own up to 30% of the apartments in a condominium and a maximum of 250 individual houses within a designated area. The ownership period is limited to 50 years, with an option to extend for another 50 years. This law aims to attract foreign investment while ensuring that the majority of housing remains accessible to Vietnamese citizens.
United States The first condominium law passed in the United States was in the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 1958. condominium in
Chicago's west side, US Section 234 of the Housing Act of 1961 allowed the
Federal Housing Administration to insure mortgages on condominiums, leading to a vast increase in the funds available for condominiums, and to condominium laws in every state by 1969. Since then, the term 'condominium', or 'condo' for short, has become a household word in the U.S. Many Americans' first widespread awareness of condominium life came not from its largest cities but from
South Florida, where developers had imported the condominium concept from
Puerto Rico and used it to sell thousands of inexpensive homes to retirees arriving flush with cash from the urban northern U.S. The primary attraction to this type of ownership is the ability to obtain affordable housing in a highly desirable area that typically is beyond economic reach. Additionally, such properties benefit from having restrictions that maintain and enhance value, providing control over blight that plagues some neighborhoods. Over the past several decades, the residential condominium industry has been booming in some metropolitan areas, such as
Miami,
San Francisco,
Seattle,
Boston,
Chicago,
Austin,
Los Angeles, and
New York City. However, in recent years, supply within the condo industry has caught up with demand, and sales have slowed. It is now in a slowdown phase. An alternative form of ownership, popular in parts of the U.S. but found also in other
common law jurisdictions, is
housing cooperative, also known as "company share" or "co-op". A Housing Cooperative is where the building has an associated legal
company and ownership of shares gives the right to a
lease for the residence of a unit. Another form is
ground rent (
solarium) in which a single landlord retains ownership of the land (
solum) but leases the surface rights (
superficies) which renew in perpetuity or over a very long term. In the U.S., there are several different styles of condominium complexes. For example, a garden condominium complex consists of low-rise buildings built with landscaped grounds surrounding them. A
townhouse condominium complex consists of multi-floor semi-detached homes. In condominium townhouses, the purchaser owns only the interior, while the building itself is owned by a condominium corporation. The corporation is jointly owned by all the owners and charges them fees for general maintenance and major repairs.
Freehold townhouses are exclusively owned, without any condominium aspects. In the U.S., this type of ownership is called
fee simple. Image:WilshireRegent.jpg|The
Wilshire Regent condominiums in
Los Angeles, California, U.S. Image:aqualbview.jpg|Aqua waterfront condominiums in
Long Beach, California, U.S. Image:1224DearbornChicago.jpg|A historic mansion converted into condominiums in
Chicago, U.S. Image:Endeavour Luxury Condominiums on Clear Lake.jpg|Endeavour Luxury Condominiums on Clear Lake, near Galveston Bay New York's Condominium Act was passed in 1964. The first condominium building was the St. Tropez Condominium in
Manhattan, built in 1965. == See also ==