CONDOMINIUMS:

        The Condominium is a form of co-operative ownership of real property that combines the features of:

        1.   absolute ownership with exclusive possession of those portions of the Condominium Project (CP) designated solely to the Owner;
        2.   common ownership of those portions of the CP not designated for exclusive use by an Owner; and
        3.   common liability and responsibility among Owners for the maintenance, control and management of the CP.

        A Board of Directors, elected by the Owners, runs the CP.  The Board of Directors has the statutory and contractual duty to control, manage and administer the Condominium Corporation (CC) and the Common Property.

        In Alberta, Condominiums are created under and governed by the Condominium Property Act and Condominium Property Regulations.

        The Alberta Government has published a Booklet which answers a number of questions new Condo purchasers have.  Please CLICK HERE to review.

        There are three different types of Condominium Units as follows:

• CONVENTIONAL CONDOMINIUMS:
  
  This is the most common type.  The Unit title represents a portion of the building and an undivided interest in the Common Property.  A conventional condo plan can only be registered after the building is sufficiently constructed to define the unit, ie. floors, walls and ceilings must physically exist.  The CC typically owns no real estate, however collectively all of the Owners own all of the Common Property by way of their individual Unit Factor.
• BARE LAND CONDOMINIUMS:
  
  Bare land Units are created when a condominium plan is registered to subdivide the piece of land on which there is no building.  The registration of the bare land condominium plan creates a corporation as well as Unit titles.  There may or not be Common Property depending upon the configuration of the plan and access.  Common Property, if there is any, will typically be streets or roadways allowing access to each Unit. 
• REDIVIDED BARE LAND UNITS:
  
  This type of Unit is created when a Developer registers a bare land condominium plan subdividing a large parcel into a number of smaller bare land units.  The Developer will then proceed to construct buildings in stages, each containing a certain number of apartment suites or townhouses.  On completion of construction, a plan of redivision is then registered. This redivision does not provide for Common Property.  The remainder unit will contain everything that was included in the original bare land unit that is NOT contained within the boundaries of the Units.  In otherwords, the "walls and halls" or Common Property Unit (CPU).  The CPU includes the ground around the building and the physical building itself with the exception of the Units themselves.

PLEASE SEE THE OTHER WEBPAGES IN THIS SECTION FOR MORE SPECIFIC INFORMATION ON SOME OF THE MAIN TOPICS IN THIS AREA.

I WOULD LIKE TO HELP YOU WITH YOUR CONDOMINIUM PURCHASE OR SALE.

PLEASE CONTACT ME AT mailto:tomdocking@canmorelawyer.com