Chamber and hall (hall and chamber)

The name comes from older English usage, where a chamber was a private room and a hall was the main room for receiving people. In Ghanaian housing the two words together describe a unit with one bedroom and one living room.

A chamber and hall is the next step up from a single room. It gives you a separate space to sleep and a space to sit, eat and host visitors. What it does not tell you is whether the bathroom, toilet and kitchen are private. That depends on the building:

• In a compound house, the chamber and hall often shares facilities with other households.
• In newer buildings, the unit usually has its own facilities and is advertised as a chamber and hall self-contain.

On Ghana Property Centre, chamber and hall units are listed under the mini flats pages, because a mini flat is the same layout: one bedroom and one living room.

A chamber and hall is rented under the same rules as any other home. The landlord should register the tenancy with Rent Control and give monthly tenants a rent card, and the law limits the advance that can be demanded.

The phrase is used throughout southern Ghana and is well understood nationally. Some advertisers write "hall and chamber" instead, with the same meaning. In Accra and Kumasi, most chamber and hall units advertised online are self-contained; shared-facility units are more often let locally without an online listing.