Domestic building
The term 'domestic building' refers to a dwelling that has no more than one family unit resident in it, and which is used as a place of permanent or semi-permanent habitation.The most common example of a domestic building is a house.
The term ‘non-domestic building’ refers to any building that is not a domestic building.
A domestic building tends to be home to a ‘household’, which was defined in the 2011 Census as being: ‘one person living alone; or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and share a living room or sitting room or dining area’.
By contrast, the term ‘residential building’ has a wider application and can be used to refer to blocks of flats, homes of multiple occupancy (HMOs), institutions (e.g. hospitals, care homes, prisons), hotels, hostels, student halls of residence, and so on.
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