Do you mean “site condominium”? I’m not familiar with that concept. Condominiums originally were units in a building that normally, or used to be, leased. The concept of “air rights” has allowed for buildings, including high rises, to be subdivided into separate units and sold. This idea now has broadened out to include any type of development, including separate houses. I live in a townhouse condominium, which is laid out as a townhouse development (with multiple units in one building on one or two levels - but both levels owned by the same person) but with the condominium concept of common elements owned by all the owners of the units, instead of easements.
Condominiums have “limited common areas” and “general common areas” as you noted, except that in the townhouse condo, there is limited limited common area, most of the common areas being general. The Association takes care of all the common elements, and my assessments are $140 a month.
If one person doesn’t pay the assessments, it places an extra burden on all the others to meet all the expenses. Unpaid assessments are automatically liens in all the states I’ve been familiar with. They do not have to be recorded. That’s why before one can purchase a condo unit, it is necessary to obtain a statement from the association that all assessments have been paid. This is an example of a “hidden lien” which a title search will not disclose.
Just as a quick note, while covenants running with the land are enforceable against the landowner, and fees in a HOA are considered his just share for the undivided common interest he has in the property where title vests in the HOA (e.g., swimming pool, golf course, entry sign, or whatever)…
For years the SCOTUS has held that one cannot enforce a covenant which is “against public policy.” This came about in some of the post Brown v. Board of Education cases in which there were covenants which restricted sale of the land to a person of the white race. The Supremes ordered that no court could enforce such covenants as such enforcement would be government action on racial grounds contrary to the Fourteenth Amendment.
So if you have a particularly noxious covenant and amenable courts in your area…
Yeah. We were told this was what any new subdivisions were any more. Whether that means in Ann Arbor, or in Michigan, I don’t know.
In my case, I think the reason is to make our subdivision responsible for maintaining the water retaining areas. We have a separate sewer system that collects runoff from rains, and it all flows to a retaining area, from where it more slowly flows into the local river, helping to prevent flooding. We’ll be responsible for dredging the retaining pond if it is necessary, and our board is putting aside funds for this, so we don’t get socked all at once.
Apart from the liens, our board isn’t very Nazi-ish. The only thing they can regulate are fences, and it’s not that they aren’t allowed, just that you need to get your neighbors agreement first. There’s a couple other restrictions that aren’t under board control: no out-buildings, and no satellite dishes, although that last refers to the older eight-foot ones. I don’t know if they can even enforce that anymore anyway.
Nitpick coming up. Title is not in the HOA. As you said the owners have the undivided interests in the common elements. The HOA hires a manager or manages the property itself, but it is composed of officers and directors voted in by the owners, and has no proprietary interest in the property.
Smacks of capitalism, actually. In practice property rights have never been absolute and the amount of freedom granted to the owner has fluctuated over time. (eg in feudal times, those who owned property also had fairly extensive obligations to their tenants/serfs). [/end hijack]