FLAT. The word is generally applied by British usage to a self-contained residence or separate dwelling (in Scots law, the term flatted house is still used), consisting of a suite of rooms which form a portion, usually on a single floor, of a large build ing, called the tenement house, the remainder being similarly divided. The approach to it is over a hall, passage and stairway, which are common to all residents in the building, but from which each private flat is divided off by its own outer door.
There is in England a considerable body of special law appli cable to flats. The following points deserve notice :—(I ) The oc cupants of distinct suites of rooms in a building divided into flats are generally, and subject, of course, to any special terms in their agreements, not lodgers but tenants with exclusive posses sion of separate dwelling houses placed one above the other. Apart from statute, they are therefore, liable to distress by the immediate landlord. The protection given to tenants by the Rent Restriction Act, 1920-25 (see LANDLORD AND TENANT; RENT), extends, however, to flats other than those let at a rent including payments which are not of an unsubstantial or trivial character, for board, or as in the case of service flats, attendance or use of furniture (Act of 192o 5.12). Each flat is separately rateable, though as a general rule by the contract of tenancy the rates are payable by the landlord. (2) The owner of an upper storey, with out any express grant or enjoyment for any given time, has a right to the support of the lower storey (Dalton v. Angus, 1881, 6 A.C. 793) . The owner of the lower storey, however, so long as he does nothing actively in the way of withdrawing its support, is not bound to repair, in the absence of a special cove nant imposing that obligation upon him. The right of support being an easement in favour of the owner of the upper storey, it is for him to repair. He is in law entitled to enter on the lower storey for the purpose of doing the necessary repairs. The duty of the landlord, who retains control and possession of a common stair case, is a common-law duty, and it cannot be put higher than this : that he is bound to maintain it under such a condition that those who are invited to use it will not be exposed to any dangers which cannot be avoided by the exercise of ordinary care. (Fairman v. Perpetual Investment Building Society, 1923 A.C. 74, 98, and see Letang v. Ottawa Electric Ry. Co., 1926, A.C. 725). (3) In case of the destruction of the flat by fire, the rent abates pro tanto and an apportionment is made; pari ratione, where a flat is totally destroyed, the rent abates altogether, unless the tenant has entered into an express and unqualified agreement to pay rent, when he will remain liable till the expiration of his tenancy. (4) Where the agreements for letting the flats in a single build ing are in common form, an agreement by the lessor not to depart from the kind of building there indicated may be held to be implied. (5) The porter is usually appointed and paid by the landlord, who is liable for his acts while engaged on his general duties ; while engaged on any special duty for any tenant the porter is the servant of the latter, who is liable for his conduct within the scope of his employment. (See also HOUSING.) In Scots law the rights and obligations of the lessors and lessees of flats, or—as they are called—"flatted houses," spring partly from the exclusive possession by each lessee of his own flat, partly from the common interest of all in the tenement as a whole. The "law of the tenement" may be thus summed up. The so/um on which the flatted house stands, the area in front and the back ground are presumed to belong to the owner of the lowest floor or the owners of each floor severally, subject to the common right of the other proprietors to prevent injury to their flats, especially by depriving them of light. The external walls belong to each owner in so far as they enclose his flat ; but the other owners can prevent operations on them which would endanger the security of the building. The roof and uppermost storey be long to the highest owner or owners, but he or they may be compelled to keep them in repair and to refrain from injuring them. The gables are common to the owner of each flat, so far as they bound his property, and to the owner of the adjoining house ; but he and the other owners in the building have cross rights of common interest to prevent injury to the stability of the building. The floor and ceiling of each flat are divided in ownership by an ideal line drawn through the middle of the joists ; they may be used for ordinary purposes, but may not be weakened or exposed to unusual risk from fire. The common pas sages and stairs are the common property of all to whose premises they form an access, and the walls which bound them are the common property of those persons and of the owners on their farther side.
In the United States the term flat has given way in use to "apartment house" and, in the congested city districts housing the poor, to "tenements." The States having cities of sufficient size to justify the construction of apartment houses have special legis lation on the subject similar to that in England.