The legal personality of multi-ownership condominium: German perspective

• Grant number: 16/23038-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 03, 2017
• End date: July 02, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Law - Private Law
• Principal Investigator: Alessandro Hirata
• Grantee: Gustavo Furlan Bueno
• Supervisor: Dennis Solomon
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Direito de Ribeirão Preto (FDRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Passau, Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/07662-7 - The legal personality of multi-ownership condominium: doctrine and decisions of the courts, BP.IC

Abstract

The multi-ownership condominium is a modern institution, characteristic of the post- World War II modern urban society, with some aspects that turns it into a special kind of property. In this institution coexist a proprietary right on a stand-alone unit (an apartment), a proprietary right above an ideal fraction of the ground in which the building is situated, and a right in ownership within the other apartment owners, under the common parts. The legal structure of the multi-ownership condominium is provided with Assembly of Joint-Owners, Apartment Manager and a Statute, but still there are some controversial questions regarding the possibility of a classification of the institute as a legal person. This would certainly result in a series of legal consequences: for example, the accountability of the joint-owners to the multi-ownership condominium obligations would be possible, as well as the possibility of this last one to be a victim of moral damage. This research aims to do a general panorama of the multi-ownership condominium in Germany, to present its very particular characteristics and also the solutions that are given to the questions currently put in debate in Brazil, notably those related to the question of whether the personification is a benefit or not. The differences regarding the legal systems of Germany and Brazil are not to be settled apart, but instead, to be highlighted, always aiming to provide a rich background of legal comparison in a search of solutions for the legal problems of nowadays. (AU)