# Apartment versus.. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 13, 2014, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-versus/698366 "2014-09-13T04:06:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-versus/698366/41 "2014-09-15T21:38:38Z")
What Wikipedia says: > [@](#): > > A homeowners association (HOA), whose members are the unit owners, manages the condominium through a board of directors elected by the membership. The concept exists under various names depending on the jurisdiction, such as “unit title”, “sectional title”, “commonhold,” “strata council,” or “tenant-owner’s association”, “body corporate”, “Owners Corporation”, “condominium corporation” or “condominium association.” Another variation of this concept is the “time share”, although not all time shares are condominiums, and not all time shares involve actual ownership of (i.e., deeded title to) real property. Condominiums may be found in both civil law and common law legal systems as it is purely a creation of statute. Among other things, the HOA assesses unit owners for the costs of maintaining the common areas, etc. That is, the HOA decides how much each owner should pay and has the legal power to collect that. > **[Condominium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condominium)** > > A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual owners. These individual units are surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned and managed by the owners of the units. The term can be applied to the building or complex itself, and is sometimes applied to individual units. The term "condominium" is most... …a rose by any other name … still has thorns. I’ve never hear it called a HOA in Canada, but then I’ve never made a deep study of condos. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-versus/698366/42 "2014-09-15T21:58:08Z")
The Wiki post is not entirely correct. Condos are a creation by statute and did not exist under common law. There is no corporation, and it did not even mention horizontal property regime. The HOA does not determine the regime fees, except indirectly. The regime fees are determined by the budget for the following year. If expenses rise, the regime fees must also increase. This is determined by the financial statement which the property manager does or arranges to have done. The Board of Directors of the HOA has the final word, and can approve the increase or decide upon another amount, but the property manager would strongly advise as to the proper amount. It’s not the HOA itself, but the Board elected by the owners that decides those matters. All of that is set forth in the Declaration of Condominium (or Horizontal Property Regime), but that Declaration must follow the state laws. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-versus/698366/43 "2014-09-16T00:40:13Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > Never heard of ‘flat’ being used in New England, except by a native Britainner. > > Triple deckers are all over the urban areas of New England (three floors, near-identical floor plans, doors open onto common stairwell and individual front and back porches). Most are owned as a whole building and rented, but in gentrified areas quite a few have been converted to condominium ownership. > > I wouldn’t be surprised if co-ops exist in the fanciest high-est priced sections of Boston, but normal people don’t live in them here. A bit off-topic, but there is an article on p 17 of the Fall issue of Historic New England magazine about the classic [New England Three-Decker](http://digital.turn-page.com/i/280492) (Can’t figure out how to link directly to the article) ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-versus/698366/44 "2014-09-16T04:16:12Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Yes, as I understand it - condominiums are legal constructs where the “condominium corporation” owns the land title and the common areas and is responsible for their upkeep. … Essentially, a condo owner owns their living space, possibly a parking space, and a share in the condominium corporation. To be legal nitpicky—and what else is the point of this thread?—you’re kind of mixing together _co-ops_ and _condos_. In a co-op, there’s a corporation that owns the building and grounds, and individual residents have shares in that corporation and also a “proprietary lease” to occupy their specific unit. For many decades, this was the only way to “own” an apartment, and they’re common in New York and not unknown in other cities. Condominiums were invented in the early 1960s, requiring legislation that was enacted state by state. In a condo, the owner has fee simple title to his unit, which is defined in three-dimensional space if necessary, and is also a _member of an association,_ a not-for-profit corporation with an elected board and the duty to care for the common elements and the undivided interests. The unit owner does not have a “share” of the association that he can sell to someone else or mortgage, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-versus/698366/45 "2014-09-16T05:42:50Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > In a [condominium](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condominium) each unit is individually owned. > > In an apartment house, the entire building is generally owned by some entity, which then rents individual units. If you can buy an apartment, then it’s actually a condo. I’ve heard of buying or owning an apartment in non-US usage, evidently meaning the same thing as a condominium in the States. FTR this is mostly from fiction from the early to middle 20th century. Bertie Wooster rented his opulent flat, but Rumpole and She Who Must Be Obeyed owned their considerably more modest apartment. Somewhat contradictorily, there are also passages where “apartment” refers to a single room; “my private apartment” could be the bedroom I’ve been given while visiting a large country house. > [@](#): > > “Flat” is a British term that is not generally used in the US. Curiously, I do see it occasionally in American English, where it usually seems to mean a rather small and dingy rental–maybe just a bit of “flat” space? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Milton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6bbea6/32.png) [@Mr.Milton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Milton)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-versus/698366/46 "2014-09-16T17:33:41Z")
FWIW: In the development where I live, there are buildings which have four floors and each set of two make up one condo unit so that floors 1&2 are a unit with the living room and kitchen on floor 1 and the bedrooms on 2, and 3&4 are another unit with the kitchen and LR on 3 and the brs on 4. Both units have seperate doors to the street, though to access the 3&4, you have to go up a set of something like 50 inside steps. One building will have perhaps 4 or 6 sets of 1&2 and 3&4. Like I said, where I live, these are called --and were sold as-- condos. Just a few miles south across the county line (this in in the state of Maryland), the exact same things are being sold as “Stacked Townhomes”. As to HOAs, in MD since about the 80’s, all developments of more than a handful of homes have to have one per state law. They take the place of what in other states (such as PA) woud be Townships, contracting garbage pickup and snow removal (but not policing, which is handled by the respective counties Sherriffs’ departments). They can also provide for community pools and playgrounds and so on. Schools are funded via the counties and (I think) the state. Many communities in MD are in unincorporated areas of various counties; they’re a census-designated-place on a map, but not an official town or city. I’ve heard Germantown would be one of the most populus cities in the state if it were a city, but it’s not; it’s unincorporated. I was surprised to find PA does things a lot differently. Schools are funded by local property taxes, which can vary widely. Garbage pickup is contracted by individual homeowners, so two houses next to each other might have different garbagemen, rates, and pickup days. Snow removal is done by local government. HOAs are optional and where they exist at all and seem to cost more and provide less than in MD. Police seems to be handled by the townships and in some cases y combinations of townships. Of couurse, this is in the suburbs and countryside, not the cities. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-versus/698366/47 "2014-09-18T04:31:32Z")
I’ve come across still another housing-related usage of the word “flat”–in the novel _McTeague_ pauthor Frank Norris uses the word to mean the entire dumpy Polk Street building in or near which most of the characters live. When the dentist is driven out of practice he and Trina move to the smallest room at “the top of the flat”, in order to save money. Before the catastrophe they have a three-room unit, probably the best one in the place. Most of the units in this “flat” seem to be single rooms and all-in-all it seems to be a depressing place. The residents are anything but professional or middle class, and probably to a person would be in awe of a HS diploma, never mind a professional degree. The novel was published in 1899, so I don’t know if that was a general usage of “flat” or if it was a San Francisco regionalism of the time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-versus/698366.md?page=2)