Maisonette (maisonette flat)

In British English, where the word comes from, a maisonette is a flat on two levels, usually with its own front door, inside a building that contains other homes. It feels like a small house stacked within a block.

How it is used in Nigeria. Maisonettes appear in Lagos and Abuja listings in at least three ways:

• a two-level flat on the upper floors of a block, with stairs inside the unit;
• a duplex-style unit in a low-rise building, sharing walls above or below with other units;
• as a marketing word for a terraced house or townhouse.

Because the word has no fixed local meaning, it says little on its own. Read it as "a home on two levels" and check the rest.

Where to find them. Property Centre does not have a maisonette sub-type. Most maisonettes are listed under flats and apartments or under houses, depending on how the advertiser describes them.

Living in one. A maisonette gives some of the feel of a house, with separate living and sleeping floors, while sharing the building's services. Bedrooms are usually on the upper level and living rooms on the lower one, or the reverse when the unit sits at the top of a block and the living area opens onto a roof terrace.

Buying one. When a maisonette is part of a larger building, you are usually buying a unit rather than a plot. Ask how the title is held, who owns and insures the building, and how shared costs are split. Service charge almost always applies. Lenders and buyers will want to see that the building has approval for the number of units built.

• Lagos: used in Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki for upmarket two-level flats.
• Abuja: used for two-level flats in serviced blocks and for some terraces.
• UK: the strict meaning: a two-storey flat with its own entrance.