2020 Georgia Code
Title 44 - Property
Chapter 3 - Regulation of Specialized Land Transactions
Article 3 - Condominiums
§ 44-3-71. Definitions

As used in this article, the term:

1. "Additional property" means any property which may be added to an expandable condominium in accordance with the provisions of the declaration and this article.
2. "Association" means a corporation formed for the purpose of exercising the powers of the association of any condominium created pursuant to this article.
3. "Board of directors" or "board" means an executive and administrative body, by whatever name denominated, designated in the condominium instruments as the governing body of the association.
4. "Common elements" means all portions of the condominium other than the units.
5. "Common expenses" means all expenditures lawfully made or incurred by or on behalf of the association together with all funds lawfully assessed for the creation and maintenance of reserves pursuant to the provisions of the condominium instruments.
6. "Common profits" means all income collected or accrued by or on behalf of the association other than income derived from assessments pursuant to Code Section 44-3-80.
7. "Condominium" means the property lawfully submitted to this article by the recordation of condominium instruments pursuant to this article. No property shall be deemed to be a condominium within the meaning of this article unless undivided interests in common elements are vested in the unit owners.
8. "Condominium instruments" means the declaration and plats and plans recorded pursuant to this article. Any exhibit, schedule, or certification accompanying a condominium instrument and recorded simultaneously therewith shall be deemed an integral part of that condominium instrument. Any amendment or certification of any condominium instrument shall, from the time of the recordation of such amendment or certification, be deemed an integral part of the affected condominium instrument so long as such amendment or certification was made in accordance with this article.
9. "Condominium unit" means a unit, as defined in paragraph (28) of this Code section, together with the undivided interest in the common elements appertaining to that unit.
10. "Conversion condominium" means a condominium all or part of which may be used for residential purposes, which condominium contains any building or portion thereof that at any time before the recording of the declaration was occupied wholly or partially by persons other than persons who, at the time of the recording, had contractual rights to acquire one or more units within the condominium. This paragraph shall not apply to any condominium created prior to July 1, 1980, or to the expansion of any such condominium.
11. "Convertible space" means a portion of a structure within a condominium, which portion may be converted in accordance with this article into one or more units or common elements, including, but not limited to, limited common elements.
12. "Court" means the superior court of the county where the condominium or any part thereof is located.
13. "Declarant" means all owners and lessees of the property who execute the declaration or on whose behalf the declaration is executed; provided, however, that the phrase "owner and lessees," as used in this Code section and in Code Sections 44-3-72 and 44-3-89, shall not include in his capacity as such any mortgagee, any lienholder, any person having an equitable interest under any contract for the sale or lease of a unit, or any lessee or tenant of a unit. From the time of the recordation of any amendment to the declaration expanding an expandable condominium, all persons who execute that amendment or on whose behalf that amendment is executed shall also come within the definition of "declarant." Any successor-in-title of any owner or lessee referred to in this paragraph who comes to stand in the same relation to the condominium as his predecessor did shall also come within such definition.
14. "Declaration" means the recordable instrument containing those matters required by Code Section 44-3-77 and any lawful amendments thereto.
15. "Expandable condominium" means a condominium to which additional property may be added in accordance with the declaration and this article.
16. "Foreclosure" means, without limitation, the judicial foreclosure of a mortgage and the exercise of a power of sale contained in any mortgage.
17. "Identifying number" means one or more letters, numbers, symbols, words, or any combination thereof that identifies only one unit in the condominium.
18. "Leasehold condominium" means a condominium in all or any portion of which each unit owner owns an estate for years or leasehold estate in his unit or in the property on or within which that unit is situated or both. A condominium including an estate for years in property, or an interest therein, on or within which no units are situated or to be situated shall not be deemed a leasehold condominium within the meaning of this article.
19. "Limited common element" means a portion of the common elements reserved for the exclusive use of those entitled to the use of one or more, but less than all, of the units.

    (19.1) "Master association" means an association of a master condominium.

    (19.2) "Master condominium" means a condominium in which the condominium instruments permit one or more of the units to constitute a subcondominium.

20. "Mortgage" means a mortgage, deed to secure debt, deed of trust, or other instrument conveying a lien upon or security title to property.
21. "Mortgagee" means the holder of a mortgage.
22. "Officer" means an officer of the association.
23. "Permanently assigned limited common element" means a limited common element which cannot be reassigned or which can be reassigned only with the consent of the unit owner or owners of the unit or units to which it is assigned.
24. "Person" means a natural person, corporation, partnership, association, trust, other entity, or any combination thereof.
25. "Property" means any real property and any interest in real property, including, without limitation, parcels of air space.
26. "Record" means to file for record in the office of the clerk of the superior court of all counties in which the condominium or any part thereof is located.

    (26.1) "Subassociation" means an association of a subcondominium.

    (26.2) "Subcondominium" means the property consisting of a unit of an existing condominium lawfully submitted under this article by the recordation of separate condominium instruments pursuant to this article.

27. "Submitted property" means the property lawfully submitted to this article by the recordation of condominium instruments pursuant to this article. Additional property shall be deemed to be submitted property upon the expansion of a condominium pursuant to this article.

    (27.1) "Subunit" means a unit that constitutes a portion of a subcondominium.

28. "Unit" means a portion of the condominium intended for any type of independent ownership and use. For the purposes of this article, a convertible space shall also be deemed a unit.
29. "Unit owner" means one or more persons, including the declarant, who own a condominium unit or, in the case of a leasehold condominium, whose leasehold interest or interests in the condominium extend for the entire balance of the unexpired term or terms.

(Ga. L. 1975, p. 609, §§ 3, 6; Ga. L. 1980, p. 1406, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 44; Ga. L. 1983, p. 3, § 33; Ga. L. 2007, p. 611, § 1/HB 383.)

- For article, "Recommended Changes in the Law Affecting Condominium and Homeowner Associations in Georgia," see 1 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 185 (1985). For annual survey on wills, trusts, guardianships, and fiduciary administration, see 64 Mercer L. Rev. 325 (2012).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

"Unit owner."

- Definition of "owner" in the bylaws of a condominium association as "record title holder of a unit within the condominium but shall not mean a mortgage holder" did not conflict with the definition of "unit owner", but was merely a more precise definition to facilitate the collection of assessments; thus, the vendor of a unit was liable for assessments until the deed was recorded. Casey v. North Decatur Courtyards Condominium Ass'n, 213 Ga. App. 190, 444 S.E.2d 361 (1994).

- External water spigots were not "limited common elements" because the spigots were not assigned as such in the condominium documents, and use of the spigots could be restricted under O.C.G.A. § 44-3-76 to enforce condominium declarations. Frantz v. Piccadilly Place Condo. Ass'n, 278 Ga. 103, 597 S.E.2d 354 (2004).

- Trial court properly granted a condominium association and the association's board summary judgment and properly declared a tenth-floor rooftop terrace a common element for all unit owners in a suit involving a dispute over the terrace because the express terms of the original declaration designated the terrace as a common element. Further, an amendment stating otherwise that was signed by a former managing member, and not the association, no longer controlled since the former managing member's control ended by the time the declarant sought to amend the declaration to assign the entire fenced area of the tenth-floor rooftop terrace as a limited common element benefitting only the penthouse unit. Walker v. 90 Fairlie Condo. Ass'n, 290 Ga. App. 171, 659 S.E.2d 412 (2008).

Cited in Powers v. Jones, 185 Ga. App. 859, 366 S.E.2d 234 (1988).