A lease is a contract conferring a right from one person (called a tenant or lessee) to possess property belonging to another person. Leases may be over any type of property, whether tangible or intangible. Leases for intangible property could include use of a computer program (similar to a license, but with different provisions), or use of a radio frequency (such as a contract with a cell-phone provider).

Leases for tangible property could include such examples as a lease of an automobile, or of real estate such as an apartment, business office, or an entire building. In the general case of real estate leases, the lessee pays money (called a consideration for the lease, and is typically called rent) to the property owner (called a landlord) or their agent or assignee (in the case of a sublease). This party to the contract is known as the lessor.

The lease will either provide specific provisions regarding the responsibilities and rights of the lessee and lessor, or there will be automatic provisions as a result of local law. In general, by paying the negotiated fee to the lessor, the lessee (also called a tenant) has possession and use (the rental) of the leased property to the exclusion of the lessor and all others except with the invitation of the tenant. The most common form of real property lease is a residential rental agreement between landlord and tenant.[1] The relationship between the tenant and the landlord is called a tenancy, and the right to possession by the tenant is sometimes called a leasehold interest. A lease can be for a fixed period of time (called the term of the lease) but (depending on the terms of the lease) may be terminated sooner.

A lease should be contrasted to a license, which may entitle a person (called a licensee) to use property, but which is subject to termination at the will of the owner of the property (called the licensor). An example of a license is the relationship between a parking lot owner and a person who parks a vehicle in the parking lot. The difference would be that if possession is subject to recurring payments and is generally not subject to termination except for misconduct or nonpayment, it is a lease; if the possession and/or use is either without additional fees or is permanent, it is a license. The seminal difference between a lease and a license is that a lease generally provides for regular periodic payments during its term and a specific ending date. If a contract has no ending date then it is a perpetual license rather than a lease.

Under normal circumstances, owners of property are at liberty to do what they want with their property (for a lawful purpose), including dealing with it or handing over possession of the property to a tenant for a limited period of time. If an owner has surrendered possession to another (i.e., the tenant) then any interference with the quiet enjoyment of the property by the tenant in lawful possession is itself unlawful.

Similar principles apply to real property as well as to personal property, though the terminology would be different. Similar principles apply to sub-leasing, that is the leasing by a tenant in possession to a sub-tenant. The right to sub-lease can be expressly prohibited by the main lease, sometimes referred to as a "master lease".

Source Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lease
License Terms: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/