Blog · September 30, 2026
What Is a Limited Common Element?
A limited common element is part of a condominium that all owners own together, reserved for the use of one unit or a few units. Balconies, assigned patios, and some parking spaces are typical. It is not the same thing as the unit itself, and it is not a platted fee lot.
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Common, but not for everyone
In a condominium the owners share the common elements: the land, the structure, the halls. A limited common element is a slice of that shared property that the declaration reserves to a particular unit, such as a balcony, a storage cage, or a chimney. The unit owner does not usually hold fee title to that balcony as a separate parcel. The association and the unit owners hold it in common, and one unit has the exclusive use. That is why a balcony can be limited common while the roof is general common, and why you cannot sell the balcony apart from the unit unless the declaration has a procedure for reassignment. The plat or the condo plans label these areas LCE or limited common element, often with the unit number. The label is the reservation. A photo of furniture on the balcony is not.
How the plans show it
Condominium plats and plans show unit boundaries and then hatch or note the limited common elements. A patio on the ground may be LCE while the land under the building is general common. The distinction drives who pays for repairs. Declarations often make the unit owner responsible for the surface of a limited common element and the association responsible for the structure. Read the maintenance section with the plan. County tax maps usually assess the whole condominium or the unit, and they do not draw balcony rights. Platbookmapper links to the county GIS and does not parse condo plans, draw lot lines, or show zip codes. The declaration and the recorded plans are the reading assignment. A measuring wheel on the patio does not tell you whether the patio is inside the unit or outside it as LCE.
Use and alterations
Exclusive use still follows the rules. An owner may be barred from enclosing a balcony or from storing prohibited items, because the space is common property with a private use right. Enclosing it can also be a change to the exterior the association controls. Do not saw through a wall to capture a limited common element into the unit. That changes the unit boundary, which the declaration and a recorded amendment have to do. A phone GPS is irrelevant at this scale and is not a survey. If a dispute is about which unit a parking LCE serves, read the assignment schedule. The schedule, not the car that parked there yesterday, is the record.
What to do next
- Find the LCE label and the unit it is reserved to.
- Read the declaration for who repairs it.
- Do not treat it as a fee parcel you can sell alone.
- Use the assignment schedule for parking and storage, not habit.
The mix-up to avoid
Listing a balcony as extra square footage of the unit. If the plans put the unit boundary at the interior face of the wall, the balcony is outside the unit, even though only that unit may use it.
Questions people ask
Can limited common elements be reassigned?
Only if the declaration allows reassignment and the required amendment or consent is recorded. A handshake swap of parking spaces is not a new limited common element. The plan still shows the old assignment.
Is a limited common element an easement?
It functions like a reserved use, and lawyers sometimes compare it to an easement, but it is a condominium estate concept created by the declaration and the plans. Read it in that statute’s vocabulary. Do not force it into a driveway-easement form.
Find the county map
Start at Platbookmapper, search the county, and open the local GIS link. Write down the parcel number before you compare the screen to a paper plat.
Not a survey. County GIS and tax parcel maps are assessment and planning layers. They are not a substitute for a recorded plat, deed, or licensed survey.