Condominium 101

Originating from the Latin word condominium, the term condominium refers, in the field of law, to the power that two, three or more individuals have over a shared asset.

It is possible to distinguish between the ordinary condominium (something that can be divided and that allows different subjects to have participation percentages) and the condominium in common hand (when the property cannot be divided and its ownership falls on several people, without existing different participation fees).

According to abbreviationfinder.org, the condominiums are part of what civil law knows as community of property. This legal figure encompasses those cases in which an asset is shared by various legal or natural persons.

The notion of condominiums is usually applied to condominium properties. In these cases, one person is the owner of the unit he buys (an apartment or apartment within a building, for example) and co-owner of the common spaces (corridors, elevators, etc.). The expenses that occur in these common spaces are shared between all the co-owners. To facilitate administration, it is common for the co-owners of the condominium to hire the services of an external person who is in charge of paying the expenses.

In this case, the person in charge of these tasks by the co-owners is called the administrator. Among the main functions that you will have to undertake are promoting the good coexistence of all those, informing them of everything that happens, attending to them in all the queries or contributions that they want to make or measuring the degree of satisfaction that those mentioned have with regarding his job and the condominium itself.

One of the main problems that exist when, for example, a couple decides to separate, so that each of its members lives a separate life, is to establish what to do with that condominium that they have and that is their home. In this case, although different alternatives are proposed, one of the most frequent is to carry out the extinction of the condominium. This is neither more nor less than one of the two “sells” his part of the house to the other.

If you bet, as we said before, in many of the cases to undertake this action it is almost, fundamentally, due to the fact that significant tax savings are achieved with respect to other possible measures.

It is important to emphasize the fact that to proceed with the extinction of the aforementioned condominium, transfer 50% of the ownership of the house from one of the two members of the couple to the other, you must go to a notary’s office. This is where this action will be legally done, which will cost 6% less than if a sale was carried out.

For international law, a condominium takes place when several States exercise their powers over the same land. The Island of the Pheasants, a small islet on the Bidasoa River, is the smallest condominium in the world. Their sovereignty is shared by France and Spain, countries that alternate every semester in the administration of the territory.