Condo vs. Freehold: What the Purchase Actually Involves

A freehold property means you own the building and the land it sits on outright, with no shared governance beyond municipal bylaws. A condo means you own your specific unit while sharing ownership (and decision-making, through a condo corporation) of common elements — hallways, the roof, amenities, and structural systems.

Condo fees cover the building's shared maintenance, reserve fund contributions, and often utilities or amenities — they're a real, recurring cost that factors directly into your mortgage qualifying math. Under standard debt-service calculations, lenders include 50% of your condo fees as a housing cost alongside your mortgage payment, property tax, and heating, which can meaningfully reduce how much you qualify for compared to an identically priced freehold home.

Before buying a condo, review the status certificate (called an estoppel certificate in some provinces) — it discloses the building's reserve fund health, any pending special assessments, and legal disputes. A building with a poorly funded reserve can mean a large, unexpected special assessment bill down the road.

Freehold ownership means you're solely responsible for all maintenance and repairs, with no shared reserve fund to draw on — a real cost that's easy to underestimate when comparing the sticker price against a condo with fees already built in.