Condominium

Condominium (Wikipedia 2010-08-20): A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate (usually of an apartment house) is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights associated with the individual ownership and controlled by the association of owners that jointly represent ownership of the whole piece. Colloquially, the term is often used to refer to the unit itself in place of the word "apartment". A condominium may be simply defined as an "apartment" that the resident "owns" as opposed to rents. Condominium is the legal term used in the United States and in most provinces of Canada. In Australia and the Canadian province of British Columbia it is referred to as strata title. In Quebec the term "divided co-property" (French: co-propriété divisée) is used, although the colloquial name remains 'condominium'. In England and Wales the equivalent is commonhold, a form of ownership introduced in 2004 and still uncommon in most places. In France the equivalent is called Copropriété (co-ownership), usually managed by the Syndic. In New Zealand an "apartment" refers to a unit that is owned, while a rented unit is referred to as a "flat". A Condo is an apartment where an owner may have neighbors above, below, or next door to their apartment.