§ 1302. Definitions

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) “Apartment” means a part of the property intended for any type of independent use, including commercial uses. An “apartment” is one or more rooms or enclosed spaces located on one or more floors in a building and with a direct exit to a public street or highway or to a common area leading to a street or highway.

(2) “Apartment owner” means the person owning an apartment in fee simple absolute or any other estate in real property recognized by law and an undivided interest in the fee simple estate or any other estate in real property recognized by law of the common areas and facilities in the percentage specified and established in the declaration.

(3) “Apartment number” or “site number” means the number, letter, or combination thereof, designating the apartment or site in the declaration.

(4) “Association of owners” means all of the apartment or site owners acting as a group in accordance with the bylaws and declaration.

(5) “Building” means a building containing two or more apartments, or two or more buildings containing a total of two or more apartments, and comprising a part of the property.

(6) “Common areas and facilities,” unless otherwise provided in the declaration or lawful amendments thereto, includes:

(A) land on which the building or site is located;

(B) foundations, columns, girders, beams, supports, main walls, roofs, halls, corridors, lobbies, stairs, stairways, fire escapes, and entrances and exits of the building;

(C) basements, yards, gardens, private roads and streets, parking areas, and storage spaces;

(D) premises for the lodging of janitors or persons in charge of the property;

(E) installations of central services such as power, light, gas, hot and cold water, heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, sewage disposal, and incinerating;

(F) elevators, tanks, pumps, motors, fans, compressors, ducts, and in general all apparatus and installations existing for common use;

(G) such community and commercial facilities as may be provided for in the declaration; and

(H) all other parts of the property necessary or convenient to its existence, maintenance, and safety, or normally in common use.

(7) “Common expenses” include:

(A) all sums lawfully assessed against the apartment or site owners by the association of owners;

(B) expenses of administration, maintenance, repair, or replacement of the common areas and facilities;

(C) expenses agreed upon as common expenses by the association of owners;

(D) expenses declared common expenses by this chapter, or by the declaration or the bylaws.

(8) “Common profits” means the balance of all income, rents, profits, and revenues from the common areas and facilities remaining after the deduction of the common expenses.

(9) “Declaration” means the instrument by which the property is made subject to this chapter, as herein provided, and as the instrument may be amended from time to time.

(10) “Limited common areas and facilities” means those common areas and facilities designated in the declaration as reserved for use of a certain apartment or apartments or sites to the exclusion of other apartments or sites.

(11) “Majority” or “majority of apartment owners” or “majority of site owners” means the apartment or site owners with more than fifty per cent of the votes in accordance with the percentages assigned in the declaration to the apartments or sites for voting purposes.

(12) “Person” means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, trustee, or other legal entity.

(13) “Property” includes the land, the building or site and all improvements and structures thereon all owned in fee simple absolute or any other estate in real property recognized by law and all easements, rights, and appurtenances thereto, and all articles of personal property intended for use in connection therewith, which have been or are intended to be made subject to this chapter.

(14) “Site” means the spatial location occupied or to be occupied by a mobile home, including all utilities and amenities appurtenant to the location such as piping, wiring, plants, platforms or supports, lights, walls, and other improvements but not including the land on which the site is located.

(15) “Mobile home park” has the meaning given in 10 V.S.A. § 6201. (Added 1967, No. 228 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. Jan. 23, 1968; amended 1993, No. 97, § 2; 2023, No. 6, § 357, eff. July 1, 2023.)