Apartment
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An apartment (or flat) is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building. Apartments may be owned (by an owner-occupier) or rented (by tenants).
Some apartment-dwellers own their apartments, either as co-ops, in which the residents own shares of a corporation that owns the building or development; or in condominiums, whose residents own their apartments and share ownership of the public spaces. Most apartments are in buildings designed for the purpose, but large older houses are sometimes divided into apartments.
In some parts of the world, the word apartment is used generally to refer to a new purpose-built self-contained residential unit in a building, whereas the word flat means a converted self-contained unit in an older building.
When part of a house is converted for the ostensible use of a landlord's family member, the unit may be known as an in-law apartment, though these (sometimes illegally) created units are often occupied by ordinary renters rather than family members.
Staying in privately owned apartments rather than in a hotel is quickly becoming popular with travellers.