Connecticut General Statutes 47-71 – Recording of declaration and other instruments
(a) The owner or owners of any property in the state may submit such property to the provisions of this chapter by filing or recording on the land records of the municipality or municipalities in which the property is located condominium instruments that comply with the provisions of this chapter.
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 47-71
- Board of directors: means an entity consisting of natural persons elected by the unit owners to direct the operation of the condominium. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Building: means a structure or structures containing one or more units and comprising a part of the property. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Common elements: means all portions of the condominium other than the units. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Condominium: means real property and any incidents thereto and interests therein, lawfully submitted to this chapter by the recordation of condominium instruments pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Condominium instruments: means the declarations, bylaws, survey maps and plans recorded and filed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Declarant: means the person or persons who execute the declaration or on whose behalf the declaration is executed. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Expandable condominium: means a condominium to which additional land may be added in accordance with the provisions of the declaration and of this chapter. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
- Improvements: means any construction on or in any land included in the condominium, including, but not limited to, roads, buildings, poles, wires, sewers, drains, clubhouses, swimming pools, tennis courts, man-made lakes, ponds and watercourses. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- month: means a calendar month, and the word "year" means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Connecticut General Statutes 1-1
- Person: means an individual, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, association, trustee or other entity capable of holding an interest in real property or any combination thereof. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Property: means and includes the land, all buildings, all improvements and structures thereon, and all easements, rights and appurtenances belonging thereto, which have been or are intended to be submitted to the provisions of this chapter. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Unit: means a part of the property including one or more rooms or designated spaces located on one or more floors or a part or parts thereof in a building, intended for any type of independent use, and with a direct exit to a public street or highway or to common elements leading to such street or highway. See Connecticut General Statutes 47-68a
(b) The declaration and all condominium instruments filed or recorded by the declarant with or pursuant to the declaration shall be filed or recorded and shall not be of legal effect until filed or recorded on the land records of the municipality in which the property lies. Such instruments shall be indexed in the grantor volume under the name of the declarant and in the grantee volume under the name of the condominium, and shall contain a reference to the file number of the plans of the buildings and improvements comprising the condominium created thereby. In the event the land records contain separate grantor indexes for persons and corporations, the name of such condominium shall be indexed in the grantee volume for corporations.
(c) After any of the original condominium instruments has been modified or amended a total of five times, the board of directors shall prepare a restatement of such condominium instrument, incorporating all modifications and amendments to date, which instrument shall be recorded forthwith.
(d) Simultaneously with the recording of the original declaration, if not previously filed, there shall be filed in the office of the town clerk of the municipality in which the condominium is located one or more surveys of the land submitted to the provisions of this chapter, showing (1) the boundary of the property and the immediate boundary of adjoining streets or highways to which the property has access; (2) the location and dimensions of any existing improvements; (3) the intended location and dimensions of any proposed improvements which are to be located within the condominium property; (4) to the extent feasible, the location and dimensions of all easements granted by or to the condominium; (5) any encroachments by or on any portion of the condominium property; (6) the distances between parcels constituting the condominium property, if any parcels are not contiguous; (7) to the extent then known, the location and dimensions of any parcels which may be added to the condominium property pursuant to § 47-70, labeling each such parcel as an expansion parcel and, if there is more than one such parcel, identifying each parcel with an identifying letter or number, distinguishable from the letters or numbers used to identify individual units, and, where such expansion parcel is noncontiguous to the existing condominium property, the distance between each such expansion parcel and the existing condominium property. The specification within this subsection of matters to be shown on the survey shall not be construed to exclude other matters customarily shown or hereafter required for land title surveys.
(e) There shall also be filed plans of every building which contains or constitutes all or any part of any unit or units, and which is located on any portion of the condominium parcel. Such plans shall show the approximate dimensions, floor area and location of each unit in each such building; the location and approximate dimensions of the limited common elements and common elements appertaining to each such building; and the elevation, or average elevation, in case of minor variances, above sea level, or from a fixed known point, of the upper and lower boundaries of each unit delineated on the plans. Such plans shall state the name of the condominium and shall bear a verified statement of a registered architect or licensed professional engineer certifying that the plans are an accurate copy of portions of the plans filed with the building official appointed pursuant to § 29-260. Each unit shall be designated on the condominium plans by a letter or number, or a combination of them, or other appropriate designation. In the event the plans are modified, new plans shall be prepared and filed, containing all the identifications and references of the original plans, numbered identically to the original plans, filed therewith and designated “unit ownership–plans modified (indicate date).”
(f) When adding additional land to an expandable condominium, the declarant shall file with the town clerk a new survey or surveys conforming to the requirements of subsection (d) of this section.
(g) Each conveyance of any legal interest in a unit shall be recorded and indexed similarly to the conveyance of any interest in real property. No instrument conveying or purporting to convey such an interest shall be effectual against any other person but the grantor and his heirs unless recorded on the land records of the municipality in which the property lies.
(h) If the condominium instruments create any restraint on free alienability of the condominium units including but not limited to a right of first refusal, the condominium association shall, during the month of January in each year, record on the land records of the municipality or municipalities where such condominium is located, a certificate setting forth the names of the president, secretary and treasurer of such association, their terms of office and the mailing address to which requests for approval of transfers or leases shall be sent.
(i) Each condominium association shall, during the month of January in each year record on the land records of the municipality or municipalities where such condominium is located, a certificate setting forth the name and address of the insurance agency or agencies servicing the insurance policies required under § 47-83 and the expiration date of such policies. The information required by this subsection and by subsection (h) of this section may be included in a single certificate where appropriate.