Connecticut General Statutes 47-73a – Boundaries, encroachments and easements
(a) The existing physical boundaries, as defined in the condominium instruments, of any unit or common element constructed or reconstructed in substantial conformity with the condominium plans shall be conclusively presumed to be its boundaries, regardless of the shifting, settlement, or lateral movement of any building and regardless of minor variations between the physical boundaries as described in the declaration or shown on the condominium plan and the existing physical boundaries of any such unit or common element. This presumption applies only to encroachments within the condominium.
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 47-73a
- Association of unit owners: means all of the unit owners acting as a group in accordance with the condominium instruments. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Building: means a structure or structures containing one or more units and comprising a part of the property. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Common elements: means all portions of the condominium other than the units. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Condominium: means real property and any incidents thereto and interests therein, lawfully submitted to this chapter by the recordation of condominium instruments pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Condominium instruments: means the declarations, bylaws, survey maps and plans recorded and filed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Declarant: means the person or persons who execute the declaration or on whose behalf the declaration is executed. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Improvements: means any construction on or in any land included in the condominium, including, but not limited to, roads, buildings, poles, wires, sewers, drains, clubhouses, swimming pools, tennis courts, man-made lakes, ponds and watercourses. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- Size: means the number of cubic feet, or the number of square feet of ground or floor space, within each unit as computed by reference to the survey and plans and rounded off to a whole number. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Unit: means a part of the property including one or more rooms or designated spaces located on one or more floors or a part or parts thereof in a building, intended for any type of independent use, and with a direct exit to a public street or highway or to common elements leading to such street or highway. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Unit owner: means the person or persons owning a condominium unit or leasing a unit in a leasehold condominium, as hereinafter provided, and an undivided interest in the common elements specified and established in the declaration and the heirs, executors, administrators, successors and assigns of such person or persons, and a mortgagee or lienholder holding both legal and equitable title. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
(b) If any portion of any common element encroaches on any unit or if any portion of a unit encroaches on any common element, as a result of the duly authorized construction or repair of a building, a valid easement for the encroachment and for the maintenance of the same shall exist so long as the building stands. The purpose of this section is to protect the unit owners, except in cases of wilful and intentional misconduct by them or their agent or employees, and not to relieve the declarant or any contractor, subcontractor, or materialman of any liability which any of them may have by reason of any failure to adhere substantially to the survey maps and plans.
(c) If any part of a condominium is destroyed partially or totally as a result of fire or other casualty or as a result of condemnation or eminent domain proceedings, and then is reconstructed as authorized in this chapter, encroachment of any condominium unit on any common element, due to such reconstruction, shall be permitted, and valid easements for such encroachments and the maintenance of them shall exist so long as the building stands.
(d) Subject to any restrictions and limitations the condominium instruments may specify, the declarant and the association of unit owners shall have a transferable easement over and on the common elements for the purpose of making improvements on the condominium parcel and any additional land pursuant to the provisions of those instruments and of this chapter, and for the purpose of doing all things reasonably necessary and proper in connection therewith.
(e) The declarant and his duly authorized agents, representatives, and employees may maintain sales offices and model units on the condominium parcel if and only if the condominium instruments provide for the same and specify the rights of the declarant with regard to the number, size, location and relocation thereof. Any such sales office or model unit which is not designated a unit by the condominium instruments shall become a common element as soon as the declarant ceases to be a unit owner, and the declarant shall cease to have any rights with regard thereto unless such sales office or model unit is removed forthwith from the condominium parcel in accordance with a right reserved in the condominium instruments to make such removal.
(f) The conveyance or other disposition of a condominium unit shall include and grant, and be subject to, any easement arising under the provisions of this section without specific or particular reference to the easement.