Housing Tenure And Its Importance

Though each types of housing, apartments, houses, condominiums, and townhouses, can be differentiated only by its physical form, many professionals have noted that the
way to differentiate the difference between different types of housing is through its ownership or housing tenure.


There are different types of housing in the Philippines. Though each of these types of differentiated only by its physical form, such as the difference of a house and an apartment (building), many professionals and philippine real estate experts have noted that the way to differentiate the difference between different types of housing is through its ownership or housing tenure.

What is housing tenure?
Housing tenure is a term widely used in the industry to determine the type of ownership an individual or group have in any type of housing. There are several types of housing tenures used in the industry, and some of the most frequently used types of housing tenure are owner occupancy and tenancy.

Owner-occupancy, or home ownership, is a type of housing tenure in which a person who lives in a home that he or she owns, while tenancy, or leasehold estate, is a type of housing tenure in which a type of house is rented or leased to a tenant while the ownership of the said house still remains with its landlord.

Importance of housing tenure
Housing tenure is a very important part of distinguishing a type of housing, may it be apartment, townhouse, or condominium, from other types of housing. According to
many philippine real estate experts, any type of housing can be made into another type of housing by just changing its housing tenure. One example is with apartments (building) and condominiums.

Condominiums and apartments (building) are both types multi-unit dwelling in which each unit found in a building or a compound are individually occupied. According to
professionals, condominiums and apartments are very similar that a building or compound to be used as an apartment, can also be used as a condominium. This would only need to change its housing tenure from tenancy to condominium.

There have also been several cases in which an owner of a condo unit would rent their units to other people, changing their condominium units into an apartment unit (this, however, is subjected to the approval of the homeowner association). Another popular example are townhouses and the typical house.

Though townhouses in the past are mostly found in buildings or compounds, in which each floor is individually owned, a number of townhouses today have moved from the
building to providing a townhouses which looks more like a house. Though similar in ownership, in which residents own their units or houses, it still differs in housing tenure.

According to many philippine real estate experts, while the typical house are mostly governed by owner-occupancy, the housing
tenure that embodies a townhouse are known as strata title or commonhold.