Regulation of Condominium and Cooperative Conversions: Facts, Issues, and Options

摘要

Types of conversion regulations and their effects on the rental market are explored. The process of conversion of rental housing to condominiums and cooperatives has caused disruption for existing tenants and, in a few instances, adversely affected the supply of rental housing. From 1970 through 1979, about 1.3 percent of the Nation's rental stock was converted to ownership, mostly in metropolitan areas. By 1981, about one - half of the States had taken at least limited action to regulate conversions, and about one in five localities with conversions had adopted regulatory ordinances. Such regulations range widely from those designed to protect tenants of converted buildings, to those intended to protect buyers / owners of converted units, to those developed to preserve the supply of rental housing or of housing for persons of low and moderate income. The most common regulations are those requiring advance notice to tenants and granting them the right to purchase their units before they are offered for sale to the public. Also common are provisions designed to protect against unfair sales practices. At present, three States have adopted a version of the Uniform Condominium Act, developed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform Laws as a model for comprehensive State condominium statutes. Arguments for and against condominium regulation are discussed. The President's Commission on Housing may wish to consider options about the extent to which rental conversions should be regulated by government, the appropriate division of regulatory responsibility among levels of government, and alternatives to regulation that could achieve the same ends. Footnotes are provided. (Author abstract modified).