Differences Between an Apartment and a Flat

Apartment and Flat are both terms used for a self-sufficient housing entity, a type of residential real estate that occupies only part of a building. An ‘apartment’ is a term used in the American English when the term ‘flat’ is widely used in British.

However, most commonwealth nations are also found using the word- flat for spaces to live.

Focussing apartments on a wider perspective, we will need to pass by the lifestyle of the United States and the Canada. Here, most apartments are buildings designed for the purpose, but you will be able to find large older houses also that are perfectly divided into apartments. As we know that the word apartment connotes a residential unit or section in a building, in some major locations in the United States, the word denotes a rental unit owned by the building owner itself, and is not typically used for a condominium.

As far as flats are concerned, the lifestyle of UK needs to be discussed which is of prominence. In the UK, it is widely seen that some flat owners own a share in the company that owns the freehold of the building. This is commonly known as a “share of freehold” flat. The freehold company has the right to collect annual ground rents from each of the flat owners in the building. The freeholder can also develop or sell the building, subject to the usual planning and restrictions that might apply.

Now, when we focus on the lifestyle apart from US and UK, it is found that the word ‘unit’ is a more general term referring to either apartments or flats. In Australia, a unit refers to flats, apartments or even semi-detached houses. Some buildings can be characterised as mixed use buildings, meaning part of the building is for commercial, business, or office use, usually on the first floor or first couple floors, and there are one or more apartments in the rest of the building, usually on the upper floors.

Perhaps in Malaysia, the term flat in English, often denotes a housing block of lesser quality meant for lower-income groups, whilst apartments are more commonly used word that denotes a quality place to live. Often, this may also include luxury condominiums.

To the matter of fact, though the name differs according to places, the idea behind an apartment or a flat remains the same as spaces meant for living which literally we call after- Home.