YOU may have the facilities at your doorstep but really, condo ownership isn't half as straightforward as owning landed property. By deciding to go with a condominium as opposed to say a terrace house, buyers will now aside from their own strata parcels have to contend with accessory parcels and common areas. And if you are familiar with floor plans of strata developments, this is something that you cannot avoid.

Ownership inevitably involves you using or requiring such parcels. It may arise from the simple act of using the lift to get to your unit or getting that extra parking lot for your second car.

The question that begs to be answered is how do you determine the boundaries of your strata parcel that would inevitably ascertain the boundaries of accessory parcels and common areas? Boundaries of strata parcels This may seem like splitting hairs but really it is no more than cutting everything right down the middle.

If you have an intermediate unit, then what you would have to consider is the party walls that separate the two units that flank yours. Without going into the intricacies of the law it would appear that the wall is to be notionally divided into two longitudinal portions subject to a cross-easement to the owners on either side of it. As such half of the thickness of the wall will be taken into consideration when computing the floor area.

As for the maintenance of the party walls, owners should take note that they are responsible for the repair of the inner face of the wall in their respective units. The maintenance of the party wall in itself is however to be shared between the owners.

The same question arises in relation to a corner unit which would only have one party wall on one side. The other side will inevitably involve shared boundary with common areas. Two probable scenarios are possible here. One is where the complete thickness of the wall is taken to be common area leaving only the inner face of the wall the property of the owner. The other option would be similar to that of party walls as between intermediate units. There exists a third alternative and that would be where the outer face of the wall is taken to be the boundary of the corner unit.

In terms of repair and maintenance having the whole wall may not be in the interest of the owner. Inevitably the outer face of the wall will be facing a common passageway or even the lift lobby but the owner will be saddled with the responsibility for the repair and maintenance of the wall itself. The outer face of the wall however will undoubtedly be common property and be the responsibility of the developer until the management corporation comes into being. Floors and ceilings

The other question that undoubtedly arises concerns the space above a condo owner's head. That which is a ceiling to him is the built up area of the unit above him. Again the question arises as to where your unit ends and the other begins in terms of the units above and below you.

Authoritative legal opinion suggests that it would be absurd to deem the volume of the floor/ceiling as being common property. Consequently the most ideal of solutions is to adopt the party wall delineation here as well. Having said that it is the developer who decides which basis it will adopt in ascertaining the boundaries of the units.