Rhode Island § 34-36-3 - Condominium Ownership

§ 34-36-3. Definitions.

As used in this chapter:

(1) “Association of unit owners” means all of the unit owners acting as a group in accordance with the declaration and bylaws.

(2) “Building” means a building, containing four (4) or more units, or two (2) or more buildings, with a total of four (4) or more units for all the buildings, and comprising a part of the property.

(3) “Common areas and facilities,” unless otherwise provided in the declaration or lawful amendments thereto, means and includes:

(i) The land on which the building is located;

(ii) The foundations, columns, girders, beams, supports, main walls, roofs, halls, corridors, lobbies, stairs, stairways, fire escapes, and entrances and exits of the building;

(iii) The basements, yards, gardens, parking areas, and storage spaces;

(iv) The premises for lodging of janitors or persons in charge of the property;

(v) Installations of central services such as power, light, gas, hot and cold water, heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, and incinerating;

(vi) The elevators, tanks, pumps, motors, fans, compressors, ducts, and in general all apparatus and installations existing for common use;

(vii) Such community and commercial facilities as may be provided for in the declaration; and

(viii) All other parts of the property necessary or convenient to its existence, maintenance, and safety, or normally in common use.

(4) “Common expenses” means and includes:

(i) All sums lawfully assessed against the unit owners;

(ii) Expenses of administration, maintenance, repair, or replacement of the common areas and facilities;

(iii) Expenses agreed upon as common expenses by the association of unit owners;

(iv) Expenses declared common expenses by provisions of this chapter, or by the declaration or the bylaws.

(5) “Common profits,” unless otherwise provided in the declaration or lawful amendments thereto, means and includes the balance of all income, rents, profits, and revenues from the common areas and facilities remaining after the deduction of the common expenses.

(6) “Condominium” means the ownership of a single unit in a multi-unit project together with an undivided interest in common in the common areas and facilities of the property.

(7) “Condominium project” means a real estate condominium project; a plan or project whereby four (4) or more apartments, rooms, office spaces, or other units in existing or proposed apartment, commercial, or industrial buildings or structures are separately offered or proposed to be offered for sale.

(8) “Declaration” means the instrument by which the property is submitted to the provisions of this chapter, as it from time to time may be lawfully amended.

(9) “Limited common areas and facilities” means and include those common areas and facilities designated in the declaration as reserved for use of a certain unit or units to the exclusion of the other units.

(10) “Majority” or “majority of the unit owners” unless otherwise provided in the declaration or lawful amendments thereto, mean the owners of more than fifty per cent (50%) in the aggregate in interest of the undivided ownership of the common areas and facilities.

(11) “Management committee” means the committee as provided in the declaration charged with and having the responsibility and authority to make and to enforce all of the reasonable rules and regulations covering the operation and maintenance of the property.

(12) “Person” means individual, corporation, partnership, association, trustee or other legal entity.

(13) “Property” means and includes the land, the building, all improvements and structures thereon, all easements, rights, and appurtenances belonging thereto, and all articles of personal property intended for use in connection therewith.

(14) “Record,” “recording,” “recorded,” and “recorder” shall have the meaning stated in chapter 13 of this title.

(15) “Record of survey map” means a plat or plats of survey of the property and of all units in the property submitted to the provisions of this chapter, which may consist of a three-dimensional, horizontal, and vertical delineation of all such units.

(16) “Unit” means a part of the property intended for any type of independent use, including one or more rooms or spaces located in one or more floors (or part or parts of floors) in a building.

(17) “Unit number” means the number, letter or combination thereof designating the unit in the declaration and in the record of survey map.

(18) “Unit owner” means the person or persons owning a unit in fee simple and an undivided interest in the fee simple estate of the common areas and facilities in the percentage specified and established in the declaration.