(a) Taxes, assessments and other charges of any taxing unit of this state, or of any political subdivision, or any other taxing or assessing authority shall be assessed against and collected on each individual apartment, each of which shall be carried on the tax books as a separate and distinct entity for that purpose, and not on the building or property as a whole. The valuation of the general and limited common elements shall be assessed proportionately among the co-owners of the apartment. The valuation of private elements shall be assessed against the individual owner of the private elements. No forfeiture or sale of the building or property as a whole for delinquent taxes, assessments or charges shall ever divest or in anywise affect the title to an individual apartment so long as taxes, assessments and charges to that individual apartment are currently paid.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 66-27-120

  • apartment: includes the private element. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Condominium: means the ownership of single units in a multiple unit structure or structures with common elements. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Condominium project: means a real estate condominium project. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
  • Developer: means a person who undertakes to develop a real estate condominium project. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • General common elements: means and includes:
    (A) The land, whether leased or in fee simple, on which the building stands. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Limited common elements: means and includes those common elements which are agreed upon by all of the co-owners to be reserved for the use of a certain number of apartments to the exclusion of the other apartments, such as special corridors, stairways and elevators, sanitary services common to the apartments of a particular floor, and the like. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • master lease: means the deed or lease recording the property of the horizontal property regime. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Private elements: means and includes the lot area upon which an apartment is located and the improvements located thereon, as described in the declaration, and for which fee simple ownership and exclusive use is reserved to that apartment only. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • Property: means and includes the land whether leasehold or in fee simple and the building, all improvements and structures thereon and all easements, rights and appurtenances belonging to such land. See Tennessee Code 66-27-102
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) When any ground lease affects the underlying land upon which a condominium project is located or is to be located, and if the ground lease so provides, then each apartment and its respective share of the common elements shall be deemed to be and shall be treated as a separate leasehold estate responsible for such taxes, assessments or other charges, as well as such apartment’s share of ground rent which might be charged under such ground lease. Such taxes, assessments and charges, as well as such pro rata share of ground rent, shall be the obligation of the respective apartment owner during such owner’s tenure as owner and shall be subject to the lien provided in § 66-27-116.
(c) If a ground lessor and a developer have entered into a ground lease of underlying land whereon the developer intends to develop a condominium project, and if the ground lease is one in which a “residential ground rent” is created under chapter 30 of this title, individual apartments and their respective pro rata or otherwise allocated share of general common elements shall be deemed to be separate leasehold estates, and the ground lessor shall agree in all such ground leases that the owners of the individual apartments shall be separate and independent obligors under such ground lease and that the default of one (1) apartment owner shall not be deemed to be a default of all apartment owners in the condominium project. Only those individual apartment owners who default on their allocated share of obligations to the ground lessor, as the same are determined in the master deed, master lease or such ground lease, shall be deemed to be in default with the ground lessor. The ground lessor’s remedies are limited to suit and satisfaction of such default from the defaulting apartment owner, the defaulting owner’s apartment, and the defaulting owner’s allocated interest in the general common elements. The only positive covenant obligations which any apartment owner shall have to the ground lessor shall be:

(1) Payment of pro rata or allocated share of ground rent; and
(2) Payment of pro rata or allocated share of real estate taxes and assessments on the underlying land. The terms and conditions of this subsection (c) shall apply only to agreements creating residential ground rents, where the land is intended by the developer to be developed into condominiums. Any other positive covenant obligations of the obligor, as defined in § 66-30-102, that arises under the ground lease shall be deemed to have been satisfied during the period of construction and development prior to the time that the ground lease allows the closing of the sale of the first apartment. If there are any negative covenant obligations under such ground lease, then they shall be enforceable only against the individual apartment owner in violation thereof and only to the extent that such obligations are reasonably the obligation of an individual apartment owner.
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