Sophie Devidze (asker) Sep 7, 2010:

Thank you Mr. Plaisance so much for the detailed explanation, your help is invaluable indeed,
thanks to Hossein for great translation and to everyone for your attention and genuine interest.

Edward Plaisance Jr Sep 7, 2010:

And a word of welcome... To Hossein and everyone else interested in this topic...I am glad I was able to explain and clarify this...I think this is an excellent example of what ProZ can do...as you say, you won't find this in your dictionary...but we can do this for each other.

Ryan Emami Sep 6, 2010:

A word of thanks to Edward! Dear Edward,

I think your explanations were not only useful to the asker, but to all the guys who tracked this question. For my part, I learned things that cannot be found in any dictionary. Thank you!

Edward Plaisance Jr Sep 6, 2010:

"going condo" Glad that is clear now.

Just for your information...there is an expression in the USA (maybe other places, too) for the situation you describe. That is, when the owner of an apartment building (you should also know that in the U.S. when we say "apartment", 99% of the time it means "rental") decides to sell the building, one of the common options is for the tenants to "go condo". This means that the tenants buy their units from the owner and establish a condominium.

When someone says "my apartment" in the U.S. you know he is renting. When someone "my condo" you know he owns it.

Sophie Devidze (asker) Sep 6, 2010:

thank a lot, it is also clear to me now what "coming condominium" is.

Edward Plaisance Jr Sep 6, 2010:

ahaaa... OK, the meaning here is basically the same, but the situation is different. Here we have an existing rental apartment building which has been converted into a condominium. The present tenants have the option to buy the apartment they are living in and become part of the condominium or remain as renters and continue to pay rent. Or they can leave. Once they leave, the unit will be sold as a condo. Eventually the building will be completely "condo".

The "takeover" here is taking over the responsibility as a legal entity (condominium) from the previous owner of the building.

The "condo concept" is very similar to apartment ownership in Iran. It is not مالکیت مشترک Each condo unit is individually owned and can be sold and bought like an individual house. However, the condominium, as a legal entity (and this is where it is different from apartment buildings in Iran, I believe) owns common areas. The condo association formed by owners, can take decisions related to the common areas as well as individual condo units. The condo association can also go to court to enforce those decisions or infractions of the bylaws.

I hope this is not too confusing. It really isn't that complicated.

Sophie Devidze (asker) Sep 6, 2010:

"To the tenants residing in the coming condominium.
The condominium’s takeover of the property from company X is planned for Monday. For those of you who will purchase your apartment, the purchase contracts will be handed out. All of those who chose to stay as a tenant will retain your current lease agreement contracts," this is the original text. Thank you very much for your help and interest.

Edward Plaisance Jr Sep 6, 2010:

Note to Asker Would you please provide more context to the "condominium takeover"? With the small amount of information provided, I am 99% sure I have given the right information. But I would rather be 100% sure.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condominium for a good discussion of condominiums.

As I explained earlier, what is happening here is the condominium which is the legal entity of all the individual owners (not مالک مشترک ) and is represented by the association for deciding matters related to the property, both common areas and individual units, has sold a certain percentage of units, and is taking over this responsibility from the builder.