Free US Law Dictionary

Tenement

An apartment building, block of flats or tenement, is a multi-unit dwelling made up of several (generally four or more) apartments (US), or flats (UK; Chicago, Illinois). A difference may be drawn such as in San Francisco, California between an apartment and a flat, where an apartment is one of many units on a floor and a flat is the only unit on a given floor. Where the building is a high-rise construction, it is termed a tower block in the UK and elsewhere. The term apartment building is used regardless of height in the US.

A two-unit dwelling is known as a duplex (US) or maisonette (UK); a three-unit dwelling is known as a triplex, in Chicago as a three-flat, or in Boston as a three-decker or a triple-decker [1]. Beyond this, cardinal numbers are used (e.g., fourplex, fiveplex) in the US, and the term multiplex is also used.

Tenement law refers to the feudal basis of permanent property such as land or rents. May be found combined as in "Messuage or Tenement" to encompass all the land, buildings and other assets of a property.