Academy/HOA & Community Association 101
What is a condominium association?
A condominium is defined by who owns the roof, the hallways, and the ground beneath the building, not by what the building looks like.
A condominium association governs a community where each owner holds title to an individual unit, and the remaining property, the common elements, is owned jointly by all unit owners as tenants in common. The association manages, maintains, and enforces rules over that shared property on the owners' collective behalf.
What makes it a condominium
A condominium is one type of common interest community: a community where owning property comes with an obligation to pay for shared costs. What sets a condominium apart from other types is what gets individually owned versus what gets owned in common. In a condominium, each owner holds separate title to their own unit, the space inside their walls, and everything left over, the structure, the roof, the hallways, the grounds, is owned jointly.
"a common-interest community in which portions of the real estate are designated for separate ownership and the remainder of the real estate is designated for common ownership solely by the owners of those portions."
Source: Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 116, Nevada Legislature
This is Nevada's wording. Every state with a common-interest ownership statute defines a condominium in similar substance but different section numbers; check your own state's statute for the exact language.
Who owns the hallways and the roof
This is the part new condo board members most often get wrong. The association does not own the common elements the way a landlord owns a building. The unit owners own them together.
"The unit owners own the condo common area collectively in undivided interests, as tenants in common."
Source: State Bar of Texas real estate section, State Bar of Texas
A smaller piece of the common elements gets carved out for one owner's exclusive use, a balcony, a patio, an assigned parking space. This is a limited common element: still common property, but only some owners may use it.
"a portion of the common elements allocated by the declaration ... for the exclusive use of one or more but fewer than all of the units."
Source: Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 116, Nevada Legislature
Who fixes what
Because the common elements belong to everyone and the unit belongs to one owner, the default split follows the same line: the association maintains the common elements, and the owner maintains the unit.
"the association has the duty to provide for the maintenance, repair and replacement of the common elements, and each unit's owner has the duty to provide for the maintenance, repair and replacement of his or her unit."
Source: Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 116, Nevada Legislature
This is only a default. Most declarations reassign specific items, windows, exterior doors, HVAC condensers, differently. Read your own declaration before assuming who pays for a cracked windowpane.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
Your unit has a private balcony attached only to your unit. What is it, legally?
A window inside your unit cracks. Your declaration says nothing about windows specifically. Who fixes it?
A new board member in a 20-unit condominium asks who actually owns the roof and hallways. What's the answer?
Sources
- Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 116, Common-Interest Ownership (Uniform Act), Nevada Legislature
- State Bar of Texas real estate section article on common area ownership, State Bar of Texas
HOA & Community Association 101
Next, see how this ownership structure compares to a subdivision HOA and a co-op in HOA vs condominium vs co-op.
The exact statutory definition of a condominium, and whether your declaration reassigns default maintenance responsibilities away from the statutory default, vary by state and by your own governing documents. Check your state's common-interest ownership statute and your declaration.