I’ve only just learnt the difference between a Condo and an Apartment for Americans….the 1st being owned, the 2nd being rented. In the UK the term Apartment or Flat refers to owned or rented. We don’t have ‘Condos’ as they’re all called Apartments/Flats.
Also I’m noticing Australians describe their homes as 2x1 or 4x2 etc and it took me a while to work this out.
Anybody else have any cultural confusion when reading a Home/pet owner listing?
I’m a ‘very English’ lady 
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There’s also " Townhouses " which are basically the same as condos. They usually have a * homeowners association * someone who manages the grounds and dictates protocols. Both condos and Townhouses can be owned, but people rent them out as well…my current sit in bridgeport Connecticut is in a Townhouse. They do not own it. Also, they’re can be two levels, whereas an apartment usually is one level. I had a sit in Toronto Canada over the winter and she has a Townhouse with three levels. There was a basement, a main floor, a second floor then a third floor.
In San Francisco they also use the term " flat". The older Victorian buildings are typically referred to as flats. Apartments are usually in a multi unit building.
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Also I read that American basements have their own front door and entrance from the street so might not count as a 3rd party? Plus in the USA a 1st floor apartment in a block is in fact on the Ground floor, whereas in England the 1st floor is above the Ground floor.
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Some people call their places “apartments” sometimes even when they own. More likely in say densely populated cities.
Some places aren’t condos, but are owned. They’re called co-ops, based on legalities in how co-ops are owned vs. condos.
Townhouses or townhomes are owned or rented. Their distinguishing feature is that they’re at least two stories, sometimes with an attached garage.
Basements in the U.S. vary widely. Some have their own entrance from the exterior, some not. Some are finished for living, some not. Some are called daylight basements, when they’re built into say a slope or have a dug-out patio space, with significant exposure to the outdoors or daylight.
There also are ADUs — accessory dwelling units. They vary a lot, based on local zoning laws. But generally they’re a self-contained unit, say with a sleeping area or bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchenette and sometimes additional living room space. Often, these are rented out and/or used as guest quarters.
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California tends not to have basements as this is more of a Midwest, east coast thing. Some flats in San Francisco have attics or lofts as well.
Oh also in San Francisco, they have what they call " In-laws". Many are not regulated, it seems to be a way of landlord’s just collecting more rent. I’ve lived in In-laws which are typically are below the rest of the building. As I stated technically are illegal , because they’re often not properly zoned as apartment’s. San Francisco has always had housing issues. I lived in one in-law that was underneath the rest of tbe building and was only a bedroom and a kitchen. No living room area and back in the early 90’s paid 400.00 a month for rent.
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In-laws exist as housing all over the U.S.
San Francisco has had sketchy rentals in some cases, because the local officials have thwarted building or legitimizing of additional or new housing. They’re widely known for having onerous rules and regulations and very slow inspections and red tape. That’s in contrast with say in Oregon, which is more progressive. That’s why ADUs are more common in Oregon, for instance.
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I sometimes have to ask my husband the meaning of terms used in British English.
The other day I read on a profile that the HO adds cooked vegetables to their dog’s “tea”. I envisioned a cup of tea with vegetables floating in it…
Another one: “Hoover” the carpets daily as the dog sheds.
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In Thailand:
“Condominiums (condos) are registered and licensed with the and offer full ownership to individuals, while apartment buildings are leasehold properties.”
But you can rent both and condo is the most used term.
Townhouse in Thailand means narrow, multi-level dwelling that is attached to other houses on a street. They can have two, three, four or even five levels.
In Finland, homes are described by the number of rooms +kitchen. So 3 rooms +kitchen would mean a place with two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen.
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There are some additions:
Condos can also be townhouses within some planned communities or developments. Usually it would be used to describe a multiunit building. So for example my mother-in-law used to live in a first floor condo. There was another apartment above hers. Also a condo. She wasn’t the landlord or the tennant. They were both condo owners.
Generally, people still refer to their apartment (flat) as their apartment whether it’s a condo or rental. So in New York for example someone might ask, “Do you own?” and the answer might be: "No, it’s a rental.
Adding to the mix, in NYC, many people live in co-ops or cooperatives, but this is mostly in older buildings. In that scheme, people collectively own shares in the building, and have a proprietary lease on their own apartment. They can still sell their coop. The main practical difference is if you live in a condo you can probably do more things without board approval and you pay a small charge for maintainance of common areas, staffing, etc. . If you live in a coop there tend to be more restrictions and you pay a monthly charge that covers maintance plus collective property tax.
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The main difference between an apartment and a condo is ownership; an apartment is generally rented and a condo is owned.
I used to own a unit in a high rise building that I rented to my parents. It was my CONDO and their APARTMENT. Monthly condo fees go towards ongoing maintenance/staffing and a portion is set aside/reserved for larger projects (parking lot repaving, window replacement, etc)
I live in my own townhouse-style condominium.
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I wonder if this is regional? In NYC where most people live in apartments, we just use apartments to describe that type of dwelling. I live in a coop, but I still refer to it as my apartment. If I contact a real estate agent and say, “I’m looking for an apartment,” they’ll ask, “Are you looking to rent or buy?”
This may be cultural. I found when I lived outside of NY there was kind of an attitude about “renters.” Outside of NYC in some college towns for instance “renters” were either students or people who couldn’t afford to own a home and were judged for it by “landlords.” So when people first began buying “condos” maybe they wanted to use the word to differentiate themselves from renters.
In NY where almost everyone lives in an apartment and there is no stigma to being a renter, we use the word apartment to describe the dwelling, and differentiate the status – rental, coop, condo – if asked.
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Well, it just comes down to words being used interchangably when there may be more to it. Kind of like all Kleenex are facial tissues but not all facial tissues are Kleenex. I am not that bothered about it.
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It matters to a sitter to know what the HO is describing and to understand what the home context is. So language really does matter, and the wider picture is sometimes what appears to be misleading but is simply linguistic misunderstandings between HOs and sitters that leads to a wide range of muddles and messes that we see described on this forum. Accurately written and well intentioned Welcome Guides by HOs require an understanding of location based cultural differences and expectations on the part of sitters. I think words do matter.
Yup, people in places like NYC tend to refer to apartments more generically, whether they own or not. That’s been my experience with folks I’ve known there and sometimes in other East Coast cities — there’s probably shared language because of migration to other East Coast cities, too.
That’s why I mentioned this above:
I’ve lived on both coasts and elsewhere and have noticed differences. Likewise, in my first career, I worked with many folks who also moved a lot professionally — their language varied about housing and other things.
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I grew up on a block of row houses where everyone referred to them as “two family houses” – actually most had a legal basement apartment and were actually “three family houses.” Back then, usually the homeowner lived in one of the apartments and on my block it was common for grandparents to live in another. I was an adult looking for an apartment in another city when I first heard the term “duplex” to describe that kind of house. To me a duplex was an apartment (flat) with a stairway and additional space upstairs. So all types of misunderstandings are possible.
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I’m in the midwest and almost all homes have basements , I believe that’s probably due to tornadic activity in this area.
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I understand why sitters would want to know the definition of a “1st floor” dwelling, as some may not want to be on the ground floor, but is it critical for a sitter to know if an apartment is a rental or owned?
BTW, a condo (and a co-op, although less likely), can also be a rented to the person occupying it.
It’s also colloquial in the US to say “at my house…” even when one lives in an apartment, although I can’t imagine a THS listing being that casual.
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I don’t think people need to say in their listing whether they own or rent. But I say in mine that I live in a one bedroom apartment. I don’t know if that means people assume I don’t own it but honestly until this discussion, I never thought this distinction existed because everyone says apartment here whether it’s a rental, coop, or condo.
The important part that I want to convey to sitters is that it’s not just a building, but a community so I have stuff in my welcome guide about that. For instance, I let them know that it’s mostly long term residents so people will be talkative in the elevators and they should not pretend others don’t exist – as may be the case in other apartment buildings. It’s also why smoking isn’t even up for discussion. I would get dinged if there were smoking in my apartment.
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Don’t think most sitters care whether someone rents or owns in most cases, but if they’re not familiar with different terminology, that might simply be part of the explanation for curiosity’s sake.
I have seen threads where some renters have asked whether they could join THS. Can’t remember whether it was in the forum and/or the Facebook group. At least one said that they’d asked their landlord and had been declined.
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