What is a condominium unit or apartment?

I was recently talking to a friend of mine that is purchasing a unit in a highrise condominium project that hasn't been built yet. He made the remark that he's only buying air 80 feet in the sky. I said that wouldn't change very much once the building was built.

Under Hawaii condo law a condominium property regime consists of common elements (including limited common elements) and apartments. The condominium declaration defines what part of the project is an apartment, common element or limited common elements. Almost every condominium declaration in Hawaii first defines the apartment and states that everything else is a part of the common elements. Certain designated portions of the common elements are limited common elements.

Most condominium associations use an airspace definition for the apartments. The reason it is called an airspace definition is that the apartment is essentially a bubble made up of air, paint, carpeting and interior non-load-bearing walls. The boundaries of most apartments are the interior decorated surfaces of the perimeter of the apartment. Everything inside the decorated surfaces other than load-bearing walls and utilities that serve more than one apartment are part of the apartment.

The part of the condominium project that my friend is going to own by himself is the apartment, while he'll jointly own the structural elements of the project with the other members, he will mostly own air even after the condominium project is built.

What is a condominium unit or apartment?

I was recently talking to a friend of mine that is purchasing a unit in a highrise condominium project that hasn't been built yet. He made the remark that he's only buying air 80 feet in the sky. I said that wouldn't change very much once the building was built.

Under Hawaii condo law a condominium property regime consists of common elements (including limited common elements) and apartments. The condominium declaration defines what part of the project is an apartment, common element or limited common elements. Almost every condominium declaration in Hawaii first defines the apartment and states that everything else is a part of the common elements. Certain designated portions of the common elements are limited common elements.

Most condominium associations use an airspace definition for the apartments. The reason it is called an airspace definition is that the apartment is essentially a bubble made up of air, paint, carpeting and interior non-load-bearing walls. The boundaries of most apartments are the interior decorated surfaces of the perimeter of the apartment. Everything inside the decorated surfaces other than load-bearing walls and utilities that serve more than one apartment are part of the apartment.

The part of the condominium project that my friend is going to own by himself is the apartment, while he'll jointly own the structural elements of the project with the other members, he will mostly own air even after the condominium project is built.

What is the definition of "condominium?"

This is one of those situations where the legal definition of a word is different than its every day usage. Under Hawaii condominium law, a condominium is a special way of owning property. In the United States, condominiums could not exist until laws were adopted to permit them. Until the condominium statutes were adopted, someone owning the land automatically owned everything on it. If 100 people owned the land, they all jointly owned everything on it.

Hawaii Revised Statutes §514A-3 defines condominium as this special way of owning property. It states that a condominium is, "the ownership of single units, with common elements, located on property within the condominium property regime." In a condominium property regime, every member owns their own apartment or unit and all the members jointly own the common elements.

Even though this is the legal definition of condominium, most people (me included) often use it to refer to the condominium apartment or the condominium project. There's nothing wrong with that and it rarely has any consequences as long as everyone realizes what you're talking about.