What is the English word for a group of houses which have common areas like a swimming pool or a tennis court?

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ESL forum > Ask for help > What is the English word for a group of houses which have common areas like a swimming pool or a tennis court?

What is the English word for a group of houses which have common areas like a swimming pool or a tennis court?

Yolandaprieto

What is the English word for a group of houses which have common areas like a swimming pool or a tennis court?

Could it be urban development? In Spanish is "urbanizaciï¿½n". I find it difficult to find the exact word in English.

Thanks in advance for your help

Yolanda

13 Mar 2012

gabriela2746

i think you could use "condo"
when i lived in the U.S. (florida) we used often this word for that kind of housing.

13 Mar 2012

ueslteacher

The American term "condominium" is not used in The UK. The British equivalent is known as owning a "share of freehold". Not uncommon in Victorian-era blocks of flats, from the early 20th century onward this has become an extremely rare form of ownership in the UK.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-condominium.htm

Residential area may be?

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/residential+area

Sophia

13 Mar 2012

Yolandaprieto

I find the American term "condominium" very similar to what I mean but the British term doesn ï¿½t mean exactly the same. Perhaps it is because it is not a common thing in the U.K.

Thanks for your answers

Yolanda

13 Mar 2012

ueslteacher

Actually, I don ï¿½t know the British term for this. I was just guessing and wanted to point out that condo is not used in the UK.

Sophia

13 Mar 2012

MoodyMoody

I think "community association" is the closest USA equivalent. A condominium is more like an apartment one owns rather than rents. Even community association isn ï¿½t an exact translation; it is more of a group of residents in a neighborhood who join together to decide what should happen in the neighborhood. The association makes rules about different things residents can or can ï¿½t do (example: you can ï¿½t hang laundry outside or you can ï¿½t park on the street). It also works to protect the neighborhood ï¿½s interests in city government. Some community associations have amenities such as pools or athletic facilities; many do not.

13 Mar 2012

Jayho

In Australia, we call these strata developments if the buildings are units, apartments, villas, or townhouses. Individuals buy the building and share costs of common areas such as gardens, pool, driveways etc. You can read more about it here. I donï¿½t think this term is used in UK or US.

We call houses with common areas housing estates but the common areas, if any, are usually just parklands. Things such as tennis courts and swimming pools are usually provided within the local area by the local municipal council.

14 Mar 2012

On the Gold Coast Australia we have a lot of these developments. The real estate industry refer to them as ï¿½complexes" ie ï¿½I live in a complex on Smith St ï¿½.

14 Mar 2012

I ï¿½m English and live on one of these housing developments as you describe in the UAE and here we call them ï¿½compounds ï¿½. Not something you would find in the UK though!

14 Mar 2012