A condominium unit or generally popular as condo, is one form of a housing tenure.  Housing tenure is defined as a financial arrangement in which someone is given the right to live in a particular apartment, house or condo unit.  In particular, the word “condo” is oftentimes used to indicate a unit in place of “apartment.”  Technically, condominium is the general collection of home units together with the land on which it sat. 

An individual home ownership is given the rights of the air space within the limits of the home.  Normally, these boundaries include the sheetrock that surrounds the room, which allows the homeowner to do some interior designing without affecting the common area.  Beyond the boundaries is taken as undivided ownership by a corporation that had been established at the same time the condominium was built.  This corporation is entrusted with the condominiums in behalf of the tenants but holds no ownership whatsoever.  Big cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, and Chicago are prime condo users.  In addition, Detroit joined in the league as luxurious condo developers invaded the city and transform it into its present glory.

Basically, condominiums are attractive as it provides the opportunity for aspiring homeowners to obtain an affordable housing within a highly desirable location that is usually way beyond economic level.  Such properties are advantageous since it keeps to maintain and continues to enhance its values, providing control against afflictions that plagues most neighborhoods. 

Condominiums are consists of multi-unit residences wherein each of the units are individually owned.  Every tenant in the building owns the common spots or areas like recreational facilities and hallways.  Also, it is plausible for condominiums to be of single family-home.  This is called the “detached condominiums.”  Structures like these are mostly preferred by gated communities or planned neighborhoods.

The organization known as “homeowners associations” is the governing body of a condominium.  By the name itself “homeowners,” members comprise of every tenant or condo owners within a building.  These homeowners then will elect a board of directors to serve as the officers of the organization.  Similar concept exists too, but with varied names that vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, like that of “sectional title,” “body corporate,” “strata council,” “unit tile,” “commonhold,” “Owners Corporation,” “condominium association,” or “condominium corporation.”  Another aberration sharing the same concept is the so-called “time share,” however, not all shares refer to condominiums and actual ownership of real properties.

Condominium ownership may be likewise used, although less frequent especially to non-residential uses such as hotel rooms, offices, retail shops, dormitories or other housing facilities like retirement homes.  In terms of the legal structure, it is much the same and most of the assets and benefits are just similar.  Like for instance, non-profit corporation has a lower tax liability compared to a for-profit company renting an office space within a condominium.  Moreover, the turnovers of land uses specifically, uses of commercial land, makes condo arrangements problematic. 

In the United States of America, the first condo law passed was made in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the year 1958.  The English Common law stated that in real property ownership, land must be involved, while in the French civil law, it recognized in the 1804’s Napoleonic Code, all about condominium ownership.  Therefore, basing from all these, condominiums in the US evolved from a Caribbean government that comes with a hybrid legal system.  The pioneering condominium in America was built in the year 1960 in the Salt Lake City of Utah, which was supposed to be a housing cooperative or Co-op, but then, Utah’s Condominium Act of 1960 made “Graystone Manor” a condominium.