Apartment right
By law, an apartment right is understood to be: a share (for instance one-eighth) in a building with appurtenances giving the right of exclusive use of a certain part of that building: a home or a business accommodation. This share with the right of use belonging thereto is the apartment right. The size of the share depends on the size of the home or business accommodation. All apartment owners are joint owner of the entire apartment building. An apartment owner, as co-owner, is allowed to use everything in the building that is meant for common use (together with his "housemates"), the so-called common areas. The part the owner in question has the exclusive use of is often called the private unit. The other occupants do not have anything to do with it, and consequently do not have any say in respect of it (except for exceptions to be set forth hereinafter).
In most papers concerning the apartment right that the buyer receives, one or more provisions of the statutory regulation governing apartment rights are always mentioned. So it is good to know that this regulation can be found in the law in Articles 106 through 147 of Book 5 the Civil Code of Aruba.
Usually when apartment rights are concerned (also called condominiums, apartments, or flats) one thinks of large buildings or complexes of buildings, consisting of many homes and/or business accommodations. But smaller units can also be apartment rights: a ground floor home with one or more upper story homes or even some detached homes, such as complex homes for the elderly and vacation homes.