Page 21 - Leisure Living

Will You Know A Condominium
When You See One?
“Law You Can Use” Courtesy of the Ohio State Bar Association
Millions of families throughout much of the world now live in condominiums, and, as Americans pull out of recession, we likely will see this unique form of real property ownership continue to grow. The legal “device” known as a “condominium” provides a multitude of real property ownership opportunities.
Q: What, exactly, is a condominium?
A: You cannot recognize a condominium or a condominium unit by sight, touch, smell or even use. For example, a “condominium” might appear to be a duplex, a single family home development, an attached row, ranch, or town home, an apartment building or complex, an industrial park, a commercial office building or even an entire community. Condominiums may include residential housing, shopping centers, churches, schools, stables and even jails. You can’t fully tell what a condominium is by its Latin meaning (“joint domin-
ion”) but aspects of that
definition are key to con-
dominium ownership and
living. Technically, a con-
dominium is any devel-
oped real property that has
been “subjected to” a state’s
statutes (written laws)
allowing condominium
development.
Q: How do the condo- minium statutes work?
A: Condominium statutes vary from state to state. In Ohio, they allow a devel- oper who meets certain requirements and takes certain legal steps to law- fully divide a piece of (usu- ally already developed) real property into parcels of space that can be separate- ly owned. Each parcel of space has all of the essen-
tial legal attributes of any other separate parcel of real property. This means that each can be separately owned, conveyed, taxed, mortgaged, liened, bequeathed and inherited. For people who want to own their own property, have their own mortgage(s), (hopefully) enjoy the benefit of increasing property values and other attributes of real property ownership, condominium units expand real property ownership options.
Q: Can space be considered real property?
A: The “space as real property” concept is not part of our real property law heritage, which was derived from English property law. In fact, without the condominium statutes, the space constituting a tenth floor apartment, for exam- ple, could not be treated as a separate piece of real property. Ohio’s “enabling” condominium
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