Mastering the Rules: Your Guide to Multi-Unit Property Ownership
Buying a home or a property is a dream for many people in Europe. Depending on the country, this regularly leads to living in a flat or buying a property in a multi-unit building. Although future owners often think about the layout and use that they will make of their property, they do not always realise that there are common areas, obligations, restrictions and other costs, and that they will have to deal with other people, as well as in some cases, share the building with shops and offices. They are not just buying their own home, they are becoming members of a community.
All of this is already very complex, but when buying in another country, not knowing the relevant legislation and customs, unit owners can sometimes find themselves lost or facing several unpleasant surprises.
As a pan-European association, the International Union of Property Owners (UIPI) often deals with cross-border and transnational requests and questions regarding the matter. These types of requests are likely to increase due to the rise in cross-border homeownership. Yet, there is a lack of knowledge in the field. That’s why UIPI is publishing the new “Multi-unit buildings ownership guide” to provide an overview of the rules and key information to potential and current property owners and those representing them, and to assist them before they decide to buy, once they are owners and when they decide to sell their properties.
This guide aims to provide a practical overview and be a useful tool for people who might have business or private interests in multi-unit buildings in nine European countries: Belgium, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain.
This guide was first created as part of the Housing+ project, co-funded by the European Union (EU) aimed to improve the academic training on housing and real estate field among students, professionals, stakeholders, policymakers, and academics through training materials with an interdisciplinary, international, and new technologies content, videos and gamification. Thie guide is included as training material within the European Housing Studies Course, produced by the Housing+ consortium, which is available in this link: www.housingstudies.eu.
