Other than townhouses and apartments, condominiums have also become a very popular living space for a lot of Filipinos, particularly with its advantages and benefits. However, condominiums were only introduced in the Philippines only recently compared with other types of housing such as townhouses and apartments. So what is a condominium?
The term condominium is a form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is usually executed under legal rights. According to Philippines property specialists, condominiums are commonly associated with the term apartment. A condominium may be simply defined as an "apartment" that the resident "owns" as opposed to rents. However, there are several differences between a condominium and an apartment.
Differences of Condominiums and Apartments The difference between condominiums and apartments are purely in legal terms for there is no way to determine a condo from an apartment simply by looking at or visiting the building. What defines a condominium is the form of ownership. According to Philippines property professionals, the same building developed as a condominium, which every unit is sold to different owners, could actually be built someplace else as an apartment building, in which the developer would retain its ownership and rent their units to individual tenants.
Overview A condominium is a collection of individual home units along with the land upon which they sit. Individual home ownership within a condominium is constructed as ownership of only the air space confining the boundaries of the home. Typically, a condominium consists of multi-unit dwellings, which is similar to that of apartments. Each unit is individually owned, however, common areas or facilities such as hallways and recreational facilities are jointly owned by all the unit owners in the building.
The description of the condominium units and the common areas and any restrictions on their use is established in a document commonly called a Master Deed, or also known as "Enabling Declaration", the "Declaration of Conditions", or the "Condiminium Document" in most countries. Typical rules stated in a Master Deed include mandatory maintenance fees, pet restrictions, and color/design choices visible from the exterior of the units.
Condominiums could also rent out their units to tenants, similar to renting out other real estate. However, according to Philippines property professionals, leasing rights may be subject to conditions or restrictions set forth in the declaration (such as a rental cap for the total number of units in a community that can be leased at one time) or otherwise as permitted by local law.

The term housing tenure commonly refers to the arrangement, usually financial, in which an individual has he right to live in a house or in any other types of housing. There are many forms of housing tenure in today's trends. The most frequent forms of housing tenure are tenancy, in which an individual pays rent to a landlord, as well as the term owner occupancy, in which an individual owns a type of housing, hence the name home ownership. However, other than tenancy and owner occupancy, squatting is also a form of housing tenure.
What is Squatting? According to Philippines property specialists, the term squatting is used to define the act of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use. Anarchist Colin Ward have even quoted: "Squatting is the oldest mode of tenure in the world, and we are all descended from squatters."
According to Philippines property specialists, squatters area are typically found on the edge or near the outskirts of major cities which are usually consisting of self-constructed domicile without any permission from the landowner. Because of this, squatters area would usually lack in several basic housing elements such as proper sewage system, drinking water are usually bought from vendors or carried from a nearby tap, and if there is electricity, it is stolen from a passing cable.
Although squatting is considered as a crime, particularly when a landlord tries to claim the land used for squatting, other countries have come to legalize squatting. This is the reason why many areas which was known as a squatters' area in past were legalized and became indistinguishable from normal residential neighborhoods.
Squatting in Asia According to author Robert Neuwirth, there are one billion squatters globally, that is, about one in every seven people on the planet. Squatting is even found in rich countries such as in Europe and in the US. Philippines is one of the many Asian countries known for their problems in squatting.
According to Philippines property specialists, squatting is a major issue in Filipino society, especially in industrialized areas of Metro Manila. Squatting was said to have started after World War II, where most Filipinos devastated by the war have built makeshift houses called Barong-Barong in abandoned private-property plots. The government tried to transfer those squatters to low-cost housing projects, especially in Tondo (in the former Smokey Mountain landfill), Taguig (BLISS Housing Project), and Rodriguez (formerly Montalban), Rizal.

The term real estate is usually used to describe a land along with its improvements such as buildings, fences, wells and other site improvements that are fixed in location, or in layman's term, immovable. The term is also considered as a body of laws, regulations, and legal codes that pertains to a particular jurisdiction that includes elements like commercial and residential real property transactions. Like most buildings, a house is also considered as a real estate, which is usually known as a residential real estate. However, the rights to occupy a dwelling is usually under the term called housing tenure. What is Housing Tenure? According to Real estate Philippines specialists, housing tenure usually refers to the financial arrangements in which a person would have rights to live in a house or apartment. The most frequent form of resident is tenancy and owner occupancy form is owner occupancy. So what are the difference between these two types of residence? Owner Occupancy Owner occupancy usually defines a person, which is called an owner-occupier, who lives in a house that he or she owns. Owner-occupancy is therefore also called home ownership. The home of the owner-occupier can range from condominums, apartments, to housing cooperatives. Home ownership gives occupants the right to modify the building and land as they please, protects them from eviction, and creates a right to occupation which can be inherited. In some jurisdictions, it also confers certain legal rights with regard to abutters. Tenancy According to Real estate Philippines professionals, tenancy would usually refer to an ownership interest in land in which a lessee or a tenant holds real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Leasehold is a form of property tenure where one party buys the right to occupy land or a building for a given length of time. As lease is a legal estate, leasehold estate can be bought and sold on the open market. Until the end of the lease period the leaseholder has the right to remain in occupation as an assured tenant paying an agreed rent to the owner. Other types of Housing Tenure Other than the owner occupancy and tenancy, according to Real estate Philippines professionals, housing tenure may also involve:

* Cooperative - Ownership of the entire building or complex is held in common by a homeowners' association.
* Condominium - Ownership of an apartment or house is assigned to an individual, but common areas such as hallways, heating system, elevators, and exterior areas are controlled by the homeowners' association. Fees are usually charged to tenants.
* Public Housing - Government-owned housing, whether provided for free or leased at a subsidised rate.
* Squatting - Occupation by non-owner without permission by the owner, if any.