Is inspecting a townhome different from inspecting a condo?

Often substantially, and the difference is ownership rather than architecture. "Townhome" describes a building shape; "condominium" describes a form of ownership. A townhouse-style home can be sold as a condominium, where you own an airspace and the association owns the roof and exterior, or it can be sold fee simple, where you own the structure, the roof, the siding and the ground under it, with an association that maintains little more than shared drives and grounds. The two inspect very differently, so step one on any townhome is establishing which regime applies — and many townhome buyers assume the association covers more than it does. If the townhome is fee simple, the inspection looks much like a single-family inspection: roof, siding, grading and drainage, foundation, and all of the interior systems, because all of it is yours. If it is a condominium, the scope follows the declaration and the common elements drop out of scope the same way they would in a stacked building. Either way there is one element specific to attached homes that deserves attention: the party wall. Under IRC R302.2 a townhouse separation is held to a different and generally higher standard than the one-hour separation R302.3 requires between the units of a two-family dwelling, and the recurring defect is the same one found in duplexes — a missing or breached draftstop above the party wall in the attic, which in a row of townhomes exposes the whole row rather than one neighbor. Penetrations cut through the assembly and never firestopped are the adjacent finding. Sound transmission between units is the complaint buyers actually have after closing, and it is worth noting that it is not a defect under any standard of practice. Regionally, ice damming at the eaves of low-slope townhome roofs, frost-heaved shared stoops and driveways, and negative grading against the foundation are the findings that repeat. Use the free instant quote tool below and tell us whether the home is fee simple or a condominium.