Condo or House in Los Feliz: How Much Privacy Do You Trade?

A condo trades some privacy for shared walls, shared entrances and shared rules. A house in Los Feliz usually gives you more distance from neighbors and more control over noise and access. A condo gives you a building with rules on noise, guests and common areas that apply to every owner, you included.

Privacy in a condo is not only about walls. It is about how the building is built, where your unit sits in it and how the association runs it. At Rooster Homes™ we read those rules with you before you offer, so you know what living there will feel like before you commit.

Sound travels. In a condo you may share a wall, a floor or a ceiling with another unit. Footsteps, music, doors and plumbing can carry. How much depends on how the building was built and what is between the units.

Where the unit sits matters. A top-floor unit has no one walking above it. A corner unit shares fewer walls. A unit next to the elevator, the trash room or the garage gate hears those things. On a tour, stand in each room and listen.

A house has its own sounds. A house in the hills can still hear a neighbor's dog or a busy street below. Houses on smaller lots can sit close to the next one. Privacy in a house depends on the lot as much as the walls.

Most of the answer lives in the governing documents. The CC&Rs and the house rules often cover three things that shape noise.

• Quiet hours. Many associations set hours for quiet and for construction work.
• Flooring. Some buildings require carpet or a sound-reducing layer under hard floors in upper units. Some require board approval before you replace flooring.
• Complaints and enforcement. The documents describe how a complaint is filed and what the board can do about it.

If the governing documents require association approval before an owner makes a physical change, California Civil Code section 4765 sets the ground rules. The decision has to be in writing and made in good faith. It cannot be unreasonable, arbitrary or capricious. A denial has to explain why and describe how to ask for reconsideration. That matters if you plan to change your floors, and it matters if your upstairs neighbor plans to change theirs.

In a condo, the hallway, the lobby, the elevator and the garage are shared. So are the pool and the courtyard in buildings that have them. You will see your neighbors there. For some buyers that is part of the appeal. For others it is the trade-off.

The house rules usually cover guest parking, guest use of the pool or gym, move-in hours, deliveries and elevator reservations. They may cover what can sit on a balcony and whether you can grill there. A house has none of these rules unless it sits in a planned development with its own association.

Access works the other way too. A gated garage, a locked lobby and a front desk in some buildings control who comes in. A house owner handles access alone.

Often it sits in between. A townhome usually has its own front door at ground level and no one living above or below it. Most share one or two side walls. Many have a private patio or small yard and an attached garage. That can make a townhome feel closer to a house on privacy, while it still comes with an association, a fee and a set of rules.

The legal structure varies. Some townhomes are sold as condos, and the association owns the structure. Others include the land under the unit. The CC&Rs and the title report show which one you are buying, and that affects who repairs the shared walls and roof. We check it with you before you offer.

1. Tour at the times you will be home. A weekday afternoon and a Saturday night sound different.
2. Note what surrounds the unit. Above, below and on each side. Elevator, trash chute, garage door, pool deck.
3. Read the house rules and the CC&Rs. Look for quiet hours, flooring rules, balcony rules and guest rules. A California seller provides a copy of all governing documents to the buyer, and we read them with you.
4. Read the board minutes. Repeated noise complaints, disputes over flooring and plans for construction often show up there first.
5. Ask the listing agent specific questions. Has the unit above changed its floors? Is work planned in the building? We write the questions down and ask them.

Our full buying process is laid out on how we help you buy in Los Feliz.

• Touring only at quiet hours. Instead, visit once at a busy time, or walk the building at night.
• Assuming carpet above you will stay. Instead, read the flooring rules. They decide what your upstairs neighbor can install later.
• Reading only the CC&Rs. Instead, read the house rules and the minutes too. Day-to-day rules often live in the house rules.
• Counting a balcony as private outdoor space. Instead, check the balcony rules and what neighbors can see from theirs.

These are hypothetical examples, not real clients or real homes.

A buyer who values quiet. A buyer likes a second-floor unit. The minutes show two recent disputes over hard flooring in the units above. The buyer shifts the search to top-floor units and finds one with the same layout.

A buyer who likes a gated building. Another buyer compares a condo in a building with a locked lobby and gated parking to a house with a street-facing door. The buyer chooses the condo because controlled access matters more to them than a private yard.

Rooster Homes™ is a Los Feliz, Los Angeles real estate brokerage owned by Brandon and Sarah Arlington (DRE #02051216) helping buyers and sellers of Los Feliz condos and townhomes. I give every buyer an in-depth consultation before the search starts, and privacy is part of it. We read each building's rules with you and ask the questions that come out of them.

Compare buildings side by side on our Los Feliz condo building profiles, and read the space side of this choice in condo or house: space. When you are ready, send us a note. Let us know what works best for you, and we will coordinate our schedule around yours.

This post explains how condo rules generally work. It is not legal advice. For your situation, talk with an attorney.