As used in this article the following terms shall mean:

1. 1. "Existing multiple dwelling." Any dwelling classified as a multiple dwelling pursuant to the multiple dwelling law and in existence on the date upon which an application for a loan pursuant to this article is received by the municipality. For purposes of this article an existing multiple dwelling shall be deemed to include any garden-type maisonette dwelling project consisting of a series of dwelling units which together and in their aggregate were arranged or designed to provide three or more apartments and are provided as a group collectively with all essential services such as, but not limited to, water supply, house sewers and heat, and which are in existence and operated as a unit under single ownership on the date upon which an application for a loan pursuant to this article is received by the municipality, notwithstanding that certificates of occupancy were issued for portions thereof as private dwellings.
2. 2. "Occupancy by persons of low income." Occupancy by persons paying rentals or carrying charges not in excess of the average rentals or carrying charges prevailing in local projects of municipally-aided limited-profit housing companies aided under article two of this chapter, the occupancy of which commenced on or after May eighteenth, nineteen hundred seventy.
3. 3. "Owner." An individual, partnership, corporation or other entity, including a non-profit company, a mutual company, or a housing development fund company, which holds record title in fee simple to the multiple dwelling and the real property upon which it is situate or the lessee thereof under a lease the unexpired term of which shall be not less than the term of the loan to be made under this article.
4. 4. "Federal grant funds." Any grants received from the United States of America for community development activities or for the rehabilitation or conservation of multiple dwellings.