Freehold, condominium, or a road fee in between
Three ownership forms sit behind the single word townhouse in Oshawa, and the listing does not always make them obvious. With a condominium townhouse, the corporation holds the exterior, roof and grounds, you pay a monthly fee to it, and a status certificate gets reviewed before firming up; the older complexes in Eastdale, Centennial and McLaughlin work this way. A pure freehold townhouse gives you the roof, the walls and the lot outright, with nothing owed to a corporation, which is common in the front-garage rows of Pinecrest and Samac. Between them sits the parcel-of-tied-land arrangement used in much of Windfields, Kedron and Taunton, where you hold the house freehold but pay a small monthly charge toward a private rear lane, visitor parking or a shared water main. Ask the Millers to confirm which form applies, what the charge covers and whether the private lane is plowed by the corporation or by you.