# Apartment vs. Condo?



## Wapper (Feb 24, 2011)

Jan said:


> That's not how I use those in Dutch. In my book, a _flat_ and especially its diminutive form _flatje_ is usually being considered to be a bit of a derogative term for an apartment, usually when it's a cheap one. The word flat is mostly being used as a noun to point out a commieblock-style apartment building.


That's more or less like in (north)Belgium. We almost always say appartement. The word flat is often used in the word "flatgebouw" which can be interpreted as a large, commieblock-style appartement building. We don't use the word condo, but I can associate it to the american context (although I didn't know what kind of appartment was meant until i read the explanation above).


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

El_Greco said:


> Because in America it has a one particular meaning. Elswhere it is a marketing trick aimed at specific type of buyer. Someone who isnt merely buying a place to live but is buying a lifestyle.


America meaning Canada and the United States then? It's certainly not a marketing trick in either country. You said outside the United States just 2 days ago:



> usage of "Condo" outside the USA just a cheap marketing trick


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## Veruca (Sep 25, 2012)

If I'm living in a city (+1 million inhabitants) I would prefer a flat...


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

Jonesy55 said:


> So an owner-occupied rowhome in the US/Canada would also be called a condo/condominium?


Yes. Condominium doesn't refer to type of structure, but that a condominium corporation exists to deal with shared maintenance, repairs, upgrades, security, cable tv, common areas, etc. that owners pay into. Usually, the owner can not make changes to the exterior and isn't responsible for that either.

Condominium is a legal term in Canada and the United States. Beyond these 2 countries, I couldn't comment.

I have a condo in a high rise building in downtown Toronto. I pay a monthly condo fee that covers heat, lights, water, landscaping, garbage collection, security, swimming pool, gym, sauna, parking, bike room, storage, building staff, and cable television. It also covers maintenance, repairs, cleaning, and renovations to the structure, public areas (lobby, elevators, halls, laundry room), windows, and exterior doors. I might be missing a few things. 

My mother had a condo in Halifax that was a row house. She also had a condo fee, but there were obviously fewer services included.


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

I see, thanks. Similar arrangements with apartments exist here, but i've never heard about them pertaining to rowhomes. Generally rowhomes tend just to be individually owned freehold properties with each owner in the row responsible for their own maintenance, services etc, just like a detached house.


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## El_Greco (Apr 1, 2005)

isaidso said:


> It's certainly not a marketing trick in either country.


It certainly is everywhere else. American terminology is used very widely and it is used for the effect of making a product seem better than it is and to appeal to certain type of buyer.


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

isaidso said:


> There is a further distinction. Condominiums are owned, those that are rented are *either* apartments or town homes depending on what kind of structure it is. It's a town home if its a row house, otherwise its an apartment (in a building with one unit stacked on top of another like in a high rise).


True; apartments are all in the same building, and townhouses are rowhouses.


There is one more slightly different situation too... a "Cooperative". In Canada, Cooperatives are basically apartment buildings that are run by the people who live in them; they elect a board to run the place. In New York, for an example, I believe Co-ops are owned by the user. All very confusing!


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## Major Deegan (Sep 24, 2005)

Taller said:


> In Canada, Cooperatives are basically apartment buildings that are run by the people who live in them; they elect a board to run the place.


Not sure about NYC, but that's how it also works here in Chicago (and Minneapolis, too). In co-ops no one owns the land under their unit. Instead each owner has one share in the cooperative organization that runs the place. Property taxes are usually built into monthly co-op fees, a plus. On the other hand, co-ops are considered to be lesser condos, so they typically have lower resale values.


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## SydneyCity (Nov 14, 2010)

The term 'Condo' is never used in Australia. 'Apartment' is the most commonly used word for multi-unit accommodation, the terms 'unit' and 'flat' are also somewhat common.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

The term "flat" is more used in The UK and Commonwealth countries and former territories like HK.


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

We don't ever use the word "flat" in Canada; always apartment.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Taller said:


> We don't ever use the word "flat" in Canada; always apartment.


Canada has it's strong influence from it's neighbor down south.


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## SydneyCity (Nov 14, 2010)

In Australia, the word 'flat' is subject to different meanings by people of different ages.

For older people and immigrants from the UK, 'flat' tends to mean the same as 'apartment'. For younger people, the term 'flat' tends to refer to either a small, trailer type house in the garden of a larger house ('granny flat') or dwellings in a house subdivided into several smaller dwellings, each often containing their own bathroom/kitchen.


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

Manila-X said:


> Canada has it's strong influence from it's neighbor down south.


We don't use the word 'flat' because (unlike other places in the Commonwealth) Britain has very little influence here. Many things in Canada do come from the US, but lots of things don't. You're being rather presumptuous.


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## Alemanniafan (Dec 15, 2008)

In German we have the word "Wohnung" which is very general and is used for any kind of appartement or condo.
The word "Appartement" is also used in german, but that's usually only associated with small appartements with one or two rooms. Like typical for student appartements.

The differentiation between the english appartement and condo in german is done via suffixes to the word "Wohnung". 
So in german the term "Mietwohnung" is used for rental appartements and the Word "Eigentumswohnung" would litterally mean it's an "ownership appartement" so an owned appartement.

We also have the english term penthouse and loft which is more and more used for spacious luxury appartements as a trend for marketing reasons.

But using the word condo in germany would probably just cause hillariously embarrasing confusion, since it would most likely be misunderstood as a spelling or pronounciation error with a missing m.

:gossip: And it probably also wouldn't help all that much, trying to explain in detail how people can live in a "condomium". :cheers:


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## felip (Apr 7, 2010)

Here in Chile (and also in others Lationamerican countries) "condominio" is used when a group of apartment buildings (and houses in some cases) are distributed such that internal, closed, and common spaces are generated. In those cases the "condomino" is the whole structure and its internal spaces, and not each individual "apartment" which is called "departamento" or, much less common, "apartamento", the same name that they have when they are part of an individual building.

No different names are used if the poperty is rent or not.

(And I can assure that almost anybody in Lationamerica knows the difference established by the Americans betwen both terms.)

cheers.


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## Eric Offereins (Jan 1, 2004)

Jan said:


> That's not how I use those in Dutch. In my book, a _flat_ and especially its diminutive form _flatje_ is usually being considered to be a bit of a derogative term for an apartment, usually when it's a cheap one. The word flat is mostly being used as a noun to point out a commieblock-style apartment building.


I agree. 

I thought that the word condo was used for small 1 bedroom units?


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## fatym (Sep 18, 2012)

Condo ownwership is shared ownership so you do not have complete control over your property and expenses. I will never buy another condo.


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## wino (Sep 8, 2009)

Taller said:


> We don't ever use the word "flat" in Canada; always apartment.


I've live in Canada for years, and I'm still confused with apartments, condo, condo-apartments, condo-townhouse, townhouse, duplex, condo-duplex, duplex-apartments... 

seriously, what the heck?!! :lol:


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## A Chicagoan (Aug 9, 2016)

wino said:


> I've live in Canada for years, and I'm still confused with apartments, condo, condo-apartments, condo-townhouse, townhouse, duplex, condo-duplex, duplex-apartments...
> 
> seriously, what the heck?!! :lol:


Couldn't they have stuck with simple terms? I absolutely agree!


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## RaychelBackland (Oct 31, 2017)

Vaide1987 said:


> It depends on what you prefer for me i prefer condo since they have amenities and a pool
> unlike apartments some are old and don't have amenities. so i don't have any problem commuting to work.


Hi, I also prefer condos because I have an experience of both apartment and condo living. So, as per my opinion condos have the best amenities or services!


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## Yellow Fever (Jan 3, 2008)

wino said:


> I've live in Canada for years, and I'm still confused with apartments, condo, condo-apartments, condo-townhouse, townhouse, duplex, condo-duplex, duplex-apartments...
> 
> seriously, what the heck?!! :lol:


Seriously? come on wino, condo and apartment are the same. Condo is just the new term to replace apartment. I never heard of condo-apartments, condo-townhouse or condo-duplex and duplex-apartments.


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

Well, condo units are individually owned, like a house, and they have an owner's association that is similar to a Co-op. The owner may choose to rent it out to a third party. With apartment blocks, all the apartments are owned by one company and all are rented out.


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## Haifon (May 7, 2017)

Villas


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

Agree. The term condo, from *condo*minium, simply means you own it and you pay monthly condo fees to a condo board to pay for maintenance, repair, and renovation. Areas within ones home are the responsibility of the owner.


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## alexandru.mircea (May 18, 2011)

Taller said:


> Well, condo units are individually owned, like a house, and they have an owner's association that is similar to a Co-op. The owner may choose to rent it out to a third party. With apartment blocks, all the apartments are owned by one company and all are rented out.


Interesting, in France (and not only) appartment blocks are exactly what you describe as condos. I don't know if the latter version (which you call appartment blocks) really exists in and around France, because the developer normally builds the block only after it has managed to sell at least a chunk of the appartments to their future owners, so that it can raise the cash to start building and sell the rest meanwhile, or after the building was finished. The only entity that actually builds for renting is the state, for social welfare reasons.



isaidso said:


> Agree. The term condo, from *condo*minium, simply means you own it and you pay monthly condo fees to a condo board to pay for maintenance, repair, and renovation. Areas within ones home are the responsibility of the owner.


Thanks for this, it's the clearest explanation I've heard so far, and it settles the question for me definitively. In France it's called a coproprieté and it means the same thing, literally.


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## Balkanada (Nov 6, 2010)

Jonesy55 said:


> So an owner-occupied rowhome in the US/Canada would also be called a condo/condominium?


No, that's not necessarily true. There are plenty of freehold townhouses on public roads so they're really no different from a detached house in that regard. Townhouses that are in a block of land or "complex" where there would be an amenity area and visitor parking however are condominiums for which you would pay a monthly maintenance fee for


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## JuanPaulo (Feb 26, 2004)

Condominium (condo) refers to the legal setup of the property. A group of single family homes could, for example, be setup as a condominium.


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