arrears
/ərˈɪrz/Money you now owe because you have fallen behind with regular payments.
Example: They're two months in arrears and the landlord wants them out.
C220 words · Proficient
Finding a Home vocabulary — C2
Finding a Home vocabulary for property in formal and literary language, including arrears, dispossess, squatter and tumbledown — words for the state of a dwelling and the legal claims on it.
20 questions
Words in this set
20dispossess
/ˌdɪspəˈzɛs/To formally take a home or property away from someone (formal).
Example:
Families were dispossessed when the building was sold.
squatter
/ˈskwɑtər/A person who lives in an empty building without permission or paying rent.
Example:
Squatters moved into the abandoned house last winter.
encumbrance
A legal claim or restriction attached to a property (formal/legal).
Example:
The sale was delayed by an encumbrance on the title.
domicile
A formal word for the place where someone lives (formal/legal).
Example:
The court asked for proof of his permanent domicile.
abode
/əˈboʊd/A formal or literary word for someone's home.
Example:
Welcome to my humble abode.
occupancy
/ˈɑkjəpənsi/The act of living in or using a building or room.
Example:
The lease begins on the date of occupancy.
vacant possession
The legal state of a property being empty and ready for a new owner or tenant to move in.
Example:
The flat is sold with vacant possession.
rentier
/ˈrɛˌtiər/A person who earns income mainly from letting out property they own (formal, economics).
Example:
Critics accused the rentier class of driving up housing costs.
absentee landlord
A landlord who owns a property but does not live near it or manage it directly.
Example:
Repairs are slow because the flat has an absentee landlord.
tenancy
/ˈtɛnənsi/The period during which someone rents a property.
Example:
The tenancy runs to the end of March and not a day more.
squalid
/ˈskwɑləd/Very dirty and unpleasant, usually through poverty or neglect.
Example:
Families were living in squalid conditions with no clean water.
salubrious
Pleasant, healthy and good to live in (formal).
Example:
They moved from a salubrious suburb to a livelier part of town.
gentrified
/ˈdʒɛntrɪˌfaɪd/Changed by wealthier people moving in and renovating an area that was previously poorer.
Example:
The once run-down street is now fully gentrified.
tumbledown
Falling apart because of age and neglect (literary).
Example:
An old tumbledown barn stood at the edge of the field.
decaying
/dɪˈkeɪɪŋ/Slowly rotting or falling apart over time.
Example:
The decaying mansion had been empty for decades.
uninhabitable
/ˌʌnɪnˈhæbətəbəl/Not fit for people to live in.
Example:
The flood left the ground floor uninhabitable.
characterless
Lacking any interesting or individual features; plain and forgettable.
Example:
The new flats all looked identical and characterless.
bijou
Small and stylish, often used to describe a tiny but attractive home (informal, from French).
Example:
They sold their house for a bijou flat in the city.
garret
/ˈɡɛrɪt/A small uncomfortable room at the very top of a house.
Example:
He wrote the whole book in a garret with one window.
