Apartments and condominiums (called condos in short) are dwelling units that are very similar in structure and purpose. They are both used for residential purposes and called by either name depending upon the part of the world you live. However, it is not that the two properties are the same and the two names can be used interchangeably. At least, there are legal differences that will be highlighted in this article.
Condo
Condominium is a large property complex where individual housing units are owned by individuals whereas common property such as stairs, elevators, gardens, swimming pools, halls etc are shared by all owners and owned by an association of owners. In general though, the word condominium is used for the dwelling unit that is otherwise called an apartment in many parts of the world. Condos are owned and not rented as is the case with apartments. The word condo is typically used mostly in US and Canada.
In the case of a condominium, there is a board comprising of owners of independent units that is responsible for looking after the common features used by all owners. This board also looks after the problems such as maintaining the gardens and lawns and removing snow during winters.
Apartment
An apartment is a housing unit contained in a housing complex made up of many more such units. Each unit is self contained and used for residential purposes by people living in these apartments. There could be owners as well as tenants living in these dwelling units. While the individual units are owned by the owners, there are certain common features used by all the residents such as stairs, balcony, halls, elevators etc.
What is the difference between a Condo and an Apartment?
• To a casual onlooker, there is no or very little difference between an apartment and a condo
• However, apartments are in general smaller than condos and also provide less features. For example, the provision of a tennis court is very uncommon in apartments while it is common in condominiums.
• While condos are mostly owned, apartments can be owned as well as rented
• The developer of the property sells individual units called condos while the owner rents out apartments to individual dwellers