Alison had inherited the semi-detached property from her parents

[alpacinou]

I want to say someone owns an entire semi-detached house (not just one of the two houses). Is this correct and natural?

Alison had inherited the semi-detached property from her leather merchant parents. She lived with her wife in one semi-detached house and the other one was inhabited by Alison's cousin, who paid 500 dollars as rent.

 

[SoothingDave]

She owns the entire duplex, lives in one half and her cousin lives in the other.

 

[alpacinou]

She owns the entire duplex, lives in one half and her cousin lives in the other.

By semi-detached, I mean something like this:

 

[SoothingDave]

Yes. A duplex. It's much clearer to talk about halves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duple...use plan has,above each other like apartments.

 

[alpacinou]

Yes. A duplex. It's much clearer to talk about halves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplex_(building)#:~:text=A duplex house plan has,above each other like apartments.

Is this okay?

Alison's house sat in a leafy road tucked between three highways. She had inherited the duplex from her leather merchant parents. She lived with her wife in one half and the other half was inhabited by Alison's cousin, who paid 500 dollars as rent.

 

[SoothingDave]

Sounds good to me. Assuming you meant for Alison to have a female spouse.

 

[5jj]

In the UK, a semi-detached house is considered to be a whole unit, not half of anything. The picture in post #3 is of two semi-detached houses.

 

[emsr2d2]

As 5jj said, that's a picture of two separate semi-detached houses. You can tell by the fact that they have different front doors, different curtains, one has a gate, one has flowers.
If Alison inherited a semi-detached house, she inherited just one of them. For the sake of argument, let's say she inherited no. 3 (because I can't see the house number on the other one but let's say it's no 5). If her cousin lived at no 5, that would be pure coincidence. Her cousin would have had to either buy or rent it.
If Alison now owns both no 3 and no 5, then she inherited two semi-detached houses from her parents. They just happen to be next door to each other.

Note that we don't use the term "duplex" in BrE. (We don't use "condo" either). We can live in:
- a bedsit (a single room in a larger building)
- a flat (a self-contained unit inside a larger building, either a converted house or a purpose-built block)
- a terraced house (attached to another house on both sides)
- a semi-detached house (attached to another house on only one side)
- a detached house (not attached to any other house)
- a bungalow (usually detached, but has just one storey)

The terminology is the same whether we rent or own.

 

[5jj]

I agree completely with emsr2d's last, helpful, post. I'll just add that many bungalows these days have a loft conversion. We still think of them as bungalows, but they do have two storeys, or at least an upstairs and a downstairs.

 

[tedmc]

Allison owns a pair of semi-detached houses. She lives in one of them and rents out the other to her cousin.
I find it odd to say "a house is inhabited by someone".

 

[alpacinou]

As 5jj said, that's a picture of two separate semi-detached houses. You can tell by the fact that they have different front doors, different curtains, one has a gate, one has flowers.
If Alison inherited a semi-detached house, she inherited just one of them. For the sake of argument, let's say she inherited no. 3 (because I can't see the house number on the other one but let's say it's no 5). If her cousin lived at no 5, that would be pure coincidence. Her cousin would have had to either buy or rent it.
If Alison now owns both no 3 and no 5, then she inherited two semi-detached houses from her parents. They just happen to be next door to each other.

Note that we don't use the term "duplex" in BrE. (We don't use "condo" either). We can live in:
- a bedsit (a single room in a larger building)
- a flat (a self-contained unit inside a larger building, either a converted house or a purpose-built block)
- a terraced house (attached to another house on both sides)
- a semi-detached house (attached to another house on only one side)
- a detached house (not attached to any other house)
- a bungalow (usually detached, but has just one storey)

The terminology is the same whether we rent or own.

Is this okay?

Alison had inherited two semi-detached houses, next to each other, from her leather merchant parents. The houses sat in a leafy road tucked between three highways. She lived with her wife in one and the other was inhabited by Alison's cousin, who paid 500 dollars as rent.

 

[5jj]

She lived with her wife in one and the other was inhabited by Alison's cousin, who paid 500 dollars as rent.

Alison lived with her wife in one, and her cousin, who paid $500 rent, lived in the other.

I take it that Alison and her wife both identify as women.