Combining the advantages of apartment occupancy with those of home ownership has long been a dream of urban dwellers, but direct ownership of "condos" has not been easily achieved. Historically, the law allowed landowners to subdivide their land into two or more separate parcels. The owner of any piece of land also owned the building(s) on it. But what if the owner of a building wanted to subdivide a building into several parts each owned by separate owners? Although owners could subdivide land, the law did not easily permit them to subdivide the buildings into separately owned parts. In Roman Law it was forbidden and at Common Law, though it was permitted, it was generally viewed as dangerously cumbersome in the absence of express statutory authorization.

Prior to the introduction of condominium ownership an alternate form of apartment ownership known as