Sub panel definition

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Smash

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Philadelphia suburbs, PA USA
I have a three unit apartment building. 200amp main service with 4 gang meter cabinet. 3 apts and a house panel. Each unit has its own panel and main disconnect. Is there any sub panels in this scenario ? Or are they each there own service. Therefore each would need its own equipment ground. Or is the house panel considered first in line and everything is a sub panel after. Therefore the equipment ground terminates in the house panel and splits ground and neutral down stream. Hope I’m explaining this right. There is no main 200amp disconnect and no where to put one if needed.
 
If there are no OCPDs in the meter (which I think you meant by no "main 200amp disconnects"), then each unit has it's own panel, they are not subpanels. We work frequently on multifamily buildings and typically how we would handle this is to bond the panels together and run a common GEC to water pipe (all pipe is metal in Chicago still) and supplementary rod.
 
Correct there is no OCPD
This building has been sold. In order to get a U&O service equipment needs to be brought up to code. This place is a real dump twp should be happy with a coat of paint. How ever the biggest violation is working space which I will address by relocating some things. Just wonder how far I’ll need to go to satisfy this twp.
 
If it goes...
Service --> meter sockets with no breakers --> panels with main breakers
...then the panels are the service equipment and no subpanels have been mentioned.
 
It seems like from your description your set up per apartment is meter > disconnect > panel. I'm assuming this means the disco (with either fuses or a main breaker) is on the exterior of the building (grouped with the rest) and the panel(s) is inside the apartment. In terms of how the wiring gets run in that scenario the breaker panels in the apartments do get treated as sub-panels. There should be a separate grounding and grounded conductor run between the disconnect and the interior panel.
 
It’s set up with a 200amp cable into a 4 gang meter cabinet outdoor. 4 100amp SER cables run from each meter to the interior wall of a tiny room that’s not deep enough to satisfy the 36”depth code. Inside room apt 1 has little main breaker box with 2pole 60 same as apt 2 those main breakers control recessed fuse panels in each apt basement stairwell of all places. Fed with old 3 wire armor cable no ground wire. Then there is a 100amp main breaker panel with all circuits for the basement apt. Last a 12 position main lug panel with a 60amp main for the house panel. I need to get all that stuff to a safe place. I’m trying not to disturb the exterior meter cabinets other then installing SER cable going to the new panel locations. That equipment looks fairly new. Plus not a lot of spare outdoor wall space. My plan = The Basement apt is directly on opposite wall of tiny equipment room SER cable would be roughly 10’ long from meter. Install new main breaker panel recessed opposite wall turn old panel into splice box. Most circuits would reach into new panel. That’s one. House panel gets relocated about 4’ in tiny room so the exterior door opening is at you back That’s two Other two apts one 30’ and apt two 60’ away from meter I planed to stack main breakers at same location as house panel door exterior opening at your back fuse both 100 ser 70Amps and install relocated 100Amp main lug panels, carry circuits down from there fuse panels into new panel locations. Old fuse boxes are now splice boxes. All SER cable will be run indoors except about a foot into each meter. Two main lug and two main breaker panels. Are any considered sub panels
 
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