Houses, etc.

An apartment  = A set of rooms (bedroom, kitchen, living room, etc) in a building where people live. The building contains many sets of rooms like this.

I live in a large apartment on the 47th floor of my building and the view is great!

A block of flats = A large, often tall, building containing many sets of rooms (bedroom, kitchen, living room, etc) where people live. Block refers to the whole building.

The block of flats that I live in consists of about 500 residential units. It’s massive!

A bungalow = A house that is only one floor (story) high.

Since my parents got old, they’ve lived in a bungalow because they had problems with the stairs in their old house.

A cottage = A small and simple house that is often near a lake or beach or on farm land.

My sister owns a cottage in Switzerland, and every winter, when we go skiing, we stay there.

A detached house = A house that does not share any walls with another house.

I live in a detached house, and it’s so nice not hearing your neighbours through the walls!

A house boat = A boat on a canal or river that has been specially built or converted to allow people to live on it.

I love living on the river in my house boat. I wake up every morning to the peace and quiet!

A landlord / A landlady = The person who owns the house that you rent.

My landlady is really kind. Every month when she comes to collect my rent, she brings me fruit from her trees.

A mobile home = A trailer that stays parked in one place and is used as living accommodation.

When she was a child, they were very poor and lived in a mobile home. Then she became famous and bought her parents a house.

A palace = A large house where kings and queens, or other heads of state, live.

On our holiday in London we went to Buckingham Palace and spent about two hours looking around some of the rooms.

A recreational vehicle (An RV) = A caravan or trailer that can be moved from place to place and lived in. 

When they retired, they sold their house, bought an RV and have spent the last ten years moving around in it.

To rent = To pay someone money to live in their property, instead of buying your own.

My landlady wants to increase my rent and I can no longer afford it, so I’m looking for somewhere new to live.

Residential = Where people live.

This building is made up of a mixture of offices and residential properties.

A semi-detached house = A house that shares walls with one other house.

I live in a semi-detached house and sometimes I can hear my neighbor’s music through the wall.

A skyscraper = A very tall building.

My uncle lives in Dubai on the 100th floor of a skyscraper!

A tenant = A person who rents a residential building or part of a residential building from someone else.

I will terminate the agreement with my tenant after this month, as she is always late paying her rent.

A terraced house = A house that is part of a row of houses, all sharing walls with each other.

My aunt loves living in a terraced house because she can go into her garden and gossip with her neighbours over their fences.

A villa = A very large house that is often found in the countryside.

The villa was so big that they converted it into four flats that now share a gym and swimming pool.