Who Owns Land Under Condos?
Questions re: condo conversion
Who actually owns the land that the condo units sit on? Would it be a homeowner's association?
In a condo situation, who pays for the pipe to be repaired if it breaks between two of the owner's walls? Do they split it?
Basically, I'm wondering if there is some 3rd party, such as an investor who actually owns the land, has the condo owners pay him a monthly assoc. fee, takes care of maintenance issues, etc. and makes a small cash flow....
It seems like it could get very complicated if all of the condo owners were responsible for the parking lot, etc.
The essence of the answer is that the condo owners association is a specific kind of corporation. The Condo Association board of directors functions as the Board of Directors of the corporation. The Association holds title to the land underlying the units and to all the "common areas". Decisions are made by the Board. Yes it can get kinda complicated, as all decisions made by committee are. Did you know that the camel was designed by a committe? Yeah, God was busy at the time and farmed it out. What (s)he wanted was a horse.
Who sets up the Condo Association?
The developer sets up the condo association and runs it for a short while. If the developer sells out fully then I think a smart move would be to slowly give control to the condo owners.
Thank you.
Control of the association to the buyers of condominiums happens automatically as the developer sells the units. Each time a unit is sold the developer can no longer vote those shares in the election of the condo assn. officers. As more and more units are sold the developer can vote fewer and fewer shares. Although he/she frequently holds enough units to have at least one chair on the board until very close to the end of the project.
Most state laws have a provision for transfer from developer to board which includes special elections when a certain percentage of units are sold.
Wow. It sounds like this is a little more complicated. Is there any reading material available so I can get more details?