If you are a foreigner, a total newbie in London, going through dozens of rental ads a day, you need all the advice you can get. Especially if you are looking for a studio, as then you are probably doing it all by yourself. Here’s our small collection of words and terms commonly used in London studio flat listings:

SINGLE STUDIO = for a single person
DOUBLE STUDIO = reasonable size, suitable for a couple

EN-SUITE BATHROOM Bathroom in the unit, you don’t have to share with anyone.
KITCHENETTE Usually consists of a small refrigerator, a microwave oven, a hotplate, and a sink (Wikipedia).
LOWER GROUND FLOOR Look out- this might mean basement floor. See that there is enough light, and that it is not too damp inside.
PERIOD CONVERSION Historic building turned reconstructed
POWER SHOWER A shower using a pump to boost the flow of water to give a powerful shower spray (diydata.com).
SEMI OPEN-PLAN KITCHEN Not entirely open, not entirely separate.
SELF-CONTAINED Flat has all its own facilities, so that a person living there does not have to share rooms such as a kitchen or bathroom with other people (Collins English Dictionary).
MEZZANINE SLEEPING AREA Sleeping area on the intermediate floor in the room.

If you’ve bumped into something in studio ads that you don’t understand, do let us know in the comments section.

See also RoR rentals GLOSSARY.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 3:18 pm and is filed under For Tenant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.