Self Contained / Studio Apartment

A Self-contained/Studio Apartment unit of accommodation is one which usually consist of a large single main room which acts as the living, dining room and bedroom combined and usually also includes facilities for food preparation, for washing, bathroom and toilet inside it for the exclusive use of the household living within the unit. If the occupiers need to leave the unit to gain access to any one of these amenities then that unit is not aself contained/studio apartment.

Separate living accommodation with a shared hallway and stairs would be classed as self-contained/studio apartment. However, if the only access to the separate living accommodation is via a living room - such as a reception room or sitting room of the main house, it will not be regarded as self-contained/studio apartment.Accommodation consisting of a living room and a kitchen, with a bedroom and a bathroom situated across a common hallway, is unlikely to be considered a self-contained unit.The advantage is that is you don't share anything with anybody. While the disadvantage is that there is no exit door to the back or to the kitchen

A self-contained/studio apartment, is usually a private residence. It is almost always in a larger building. These buildings are a common sight in towns and cities where the population is dense. The apartment dwellers, are called “tenants,” who do not own any portion of the building nor any underlying land, but instead leased the apartment from the Landlord who actually owns the building.

The concept of apartments dates back to the era of feudalism, where in tenement law, free peasants enjoyed the use of farmland and living space they did not personally own in exchange for fixed payments of rent (or sometimes produce) to their landlord, in a practice called "free socage." The word “apartment” derives from the root word “apart,” meaning “off to one side.” Apartment buildings as we know them today emerged as Western society entered the industrial era and the peasantry migrated to the cities, becoming the working class.