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Based on dictionary condominium is chiefly US word for a room or set of rooms that is owned by the people who live there and that is part of a larger building containing other similar sets of rooms. Does any word in British English exist as well for condominium? Thank you
We’d call the set of rooms a ‘flat’, and the building a ‘block of flats’. We also use ‘apartment block’ these days.
We’d call the set of rooms a ‘flat’, and the building a ‘block of flats’. We also use ‘apartment block’ these days.
As I understand it, in BrE a flat is something that you can rent, but a single person is the actual owner of the whole building. Someone who rents a single flat in a building cannot sell that flat. When their lease is up, the owner decides whom to rent to next, and the person who lived there doesn’t get any value back from the rent that they paid. It’s equivalent to AE apartment.
By contrast, in AE, a condominium is a part of a building that you can own. The whole building is managed by a condominium association, but each person is the actual owner of their own apartment. You buy the apartment and then may pay a monthly fee to the association for maintenance. You can sell your condominium to a new owner, or lease it out. Or can a flat in BrE cover this concept as well?
We can own or rent a flat. The block may be owned by a single person or by a company. Sometimes the residents jointly own the block through an association, but I am afraid I don’t know the correct term for this.
In BrE, flat and apartment do not carry any implication of what the ownership of the property is. They are used for both rented and owner-occupied properties.
The ownership laws regulating condominiums are very different in the UK. The provisions of the Tenement Act in Scotland provide for a substantially similar form of ownership, but although the law applies to many types of property the word tenement has a particular meaning which is more restrictive in terms of the type of building. In England and Wales there is a type of ownership possible called commonhold, but this is extremely rare.
Sometimes the residents jointly own the block through an association, but I am afraid I don’t know the correct term for this.
In AE, this arrangement is called a co-op.
Thank you guys. It seems not everything can have its equivalent in BrE or AmE Probably, similarly to AmE “school board” etc. Different legal regulations/solutions brings different naming.
In AE, this arrangement is called a co-op.
A condominium and a co-op are two different legal entities. Both refer to property.
Condominium is a legal term, and does not necessarily have to be an apartment (which BE would call a flat), though it usually is. When you own a condo you own your own apartment and you, along with everyone else, own the roof, grounds, parking lot, and swimming pool. You pay fees to a condominium association, which cares for all these common areas.
A co-op is owned by a corporation. When you buy a co-op you become a member, and get a long term (think 99 years) lease to an apartment.
I’m afraid I have no knowledge of real estate law outside the US.
Last edited: Jan 28, 2015
Wikipedia suggests that the equivalent in England and Wales is commonhold
In England and Wales, the equivalent of condominium is commonhold, a form of ownership introduced in September 2004. As of 3 June 2009, there were 12 commonhold residential developments comprising 97 units in England and one commonhold residential development, comprising 30 units, in Wales.
“Condominium” is not a term that is widely used in England and Wales. The preferred term is “block of flats” with variations for particular circumstances.
We talk about strata-titled property as well here in Singapore.
The exact equivalent of a condo or a co-op doesn’t exist in England, as far as I know. We ourselves own our apartments, but on one we have a share of the freehold of the building and the land it’s on, and on the other we have leasehold, of about 150 years. We can do what we like with them, but we have no say over new occupiers, whether buyers or tenants of owners.
The flats incur a maintenance charge for communal areas. The freehold of the leasehold flat belongs to a building company.
They have residents’ committees, one of which is also deals with management and the other farms the management out to a specialised company.
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