Chapter 4 - § 4.1 • UNIT DEFINED

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 4.1 • UNIT DEFINED

The CCIOA defines "unit" as:

a physical portion of the common interest community which is designated for separate ownership or occupancy and the boundaries of which are described in or determined from the declaration. If a unit in a cooperative is owned by a unit owner or is sold, conveyed, voluntarily or involuntarily encumbered, or otherwise transferred by a unit owner, the interest in that unit which is owned, sold, conveyed, encumbered, or otherwise transferred is the right to possession of that unit under a proprietary lease, coupled with the allocated interests of that unit, and the association's interest in that unit is not thereby affected.²

A comment to the Uniform Act³ says that the definition describes a "tangible, physical part of the project rather than a right in, or claim to, a tangible physical part of the property." As a result, a timeshare arrangement usually creates one unit, no matter how many individual owners there are.⁴ The comment also extensively discusses cooperative units under the definition. It observes that in a cooperative, the unit remains a physical part of the real estate with legal title vested in the association and right to possession held by the unit owner under a proprietary lease. The definition makes it clear, says the comment, that an association's interest is unaffected by transfers of interests in a unit. The owner's interest is composite, consisting of an ownership interest in the association and the right to occupy a unit pursuant to a lease.

The CCIOA definition of "unit" does not explicitly address whether unimproved land may be a unit, but the broad language of the definition appears to encompass land, not just buildings.⁵ Absent limiting statutory language, courts generally hold that unimproved land may be considered a unit.⁶ The CCIOA definition is probably also sufficient to include two "non-conventional" types of units: recreational vehicle site lots⁷ and marina docks.⁸

--------

Notes:

^[2] C.R.S. § 38-33.3-103(30). Note Nicotra Wieler Inv. Mgmt., Inc. v. Grower, 541 A.2d 1226 (Conn. 1988) ("boundary" is device by which developer defines "unit" under Act).

^[3] The definitions are nearly identical. See Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act § 1-103(31).

^[4] Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act § 1-103, cmt. 26.

^[5] Consider Alvord Inv., LC v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals, 920 A.2d 1000, 1007 n.8 (Conn. 2007) (Connecticut version of Uniform Act supports conclusion that boundaries of unit of...