Co-ownership shares in condominiums--A comparison across jurisdictions and standards: Short version

Condominium is one of the prevalent forms of three- dimensional (3D) property rights
(Paulsson, 2007, p. 32). The condominium concept common to a number of jurisdictions
consists of three elements: (a) individual ownership of an apartment, (b) co-ownership (joint
ownership) of the land and the common parts of the building, and (c) membership of an
incorporated or unincorporated owners' association (van der Merwe, 2015, p. 5). The
ownership shares of condominium unit owners in the common property are here referred to as
co-ownership shares; yet, alternative terms include ownership fraction, condominium share,
participation quota, share value, and unit entitlement. The co-ownership share determines the
proportional contribution to the common expenses and the share of common profits, as well as
the voting power of each condominium unit owner in the administration of the condominium.
The most common approaches to the determination of the co-ownership shares are based on
equality, relative size or relative value of each condominium unit, or a combination of such
(van der Merwe, 1994, p. 57-58). The literature presents detailed descriptions and
comparative analysis related to condominium systems in different jurisdictions (e.g. van der
Merwe, 2016; 2015; Paulsson, 2007; EUI, 2005; UNECE, 2005); however, the technical and
procedural aspects related to the allotment of co-ownership shares still need to be further
investigated. This paper aims to compare methods and procedures applied for the allotment of
co-ownership shares of condominium systems in the following seven jurisdictions; Denmark,
Germany, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Turkey. Also,
international geographic information standards are analyzed to assess the extent to which they
facilitate allocation of co-ownership shares. The main purpose is to clarify the legal
provisions and methodologies related to the determination of co-ownership shares in national
condominium systems and bring new insights to countries, which are trying to revise their
national provisions for fairer implementations.