"De-Condominiumizing" a Condominium In Massachusetts--One Day you have three Units; the next day you have a stately historical townhouse

My clients have been recently facing a dilemma. Should they raise their three small daughters in the South End of Boston, or should they make the "trek" to the suburbs, A common question facing many urban couples. There were "pulls" and "tugs" on both sides. They loved the urban life; they have the financial wherewithal to absorb the cost of private school, which, unfortunatley, is almost always dictated by the gereral malaise in the the Boston City schools system. They lived in the first two floors of an upscale brownstone condominium; floors three and floor were occupied by single people with whom my clients had little in common.

After much soul-searching, my clients decided to make a run at staying in Boston, but only upon the condition that they could de-convert the Building they live in from a Condominium to a single family residential dwelling. The challenges were great. They needed first to acquire the other two Units. Those acquisitions were effected late in 2010, with the third floor being a purchase from an absentee landlord, and the fourth flood being a purchase from a resident owner, who had fallen far behind on his mortgage payments.

By the end of 2010, my client owned all three Units. We are now in the process of "De-condominiumizing" the Building. In our case, this involves filing a document with the local Registry of Deeds which indicates at least 75% of the people owning Units in the condominium wish to change the status of the Building. There is a small filing fee. We are in the process of obtaining the consent of my client's Mortgagee to the transaction, which is required if the conversion from condominium to single family dwelling is to be effective. Given the difficulty most of us are having with dealing with Lenders these days, obtaining this consent [although the mortgage loan represents less than 25% of the combined value of the Units, may be the most difficult task facing us] is required if the conversion is to be legally effective.

There are financial "pros" and "cons" involved in taking the steps outlined above.

The positive aspects include a different kind of more gracious living and privacy, which condominium living does not allow. There will probably be a strong case for a tax reduction for the Building, since, in general, three condominium units would probably have more value than one Townhouse. The other "positive" is that my clients can now achieve "husband and wife, tenants by the entirety"status for the entire building, whereas beofre the conversion only the Unit they actually owned, and resided in, was afforded that status. On the negative side, there is the expense of the transaction, coupled with the relatively higher difficulty in marketing a multi-million dollar Townhouse as compared to three "lower-value" Condominiums. The ultimate value of the single family dwelling, moreover, will probably be lower than the three component units. Lastly, on the negative side, once the Building is no longer a Condominium, there may be restrictions on converting it to same in the future based upon statutory or zoning changes, or new local and state restictions or moritoriums.

This post is written to let all of you know that the process is legally available, and the steps that must be taken to effect the change are not insurmountable. If any of you have situations in any way similar to the one I have described, I would gladly try to assist you, or your clients, in the "De-condominiumizing" process. I guess the old adage "nothing is forever" comes to mind when I think about completing same.