RENT
rent,n.1. Consideration paid, usu. periodically, for the use or occupancy of property (esp. real
property). [Cases: Landlord and Tenant 181.C.J.S. Landlord and Tenant §§ 462–465.]
ceiling rent.The maximum rent that can be charged under a rent-control regulation. [Cases:
Landlord and Tenant 200.46.]
crop rent.The portion of a harvest given to a landlord by a sharecropper as rent. • Specific
crop names, such as grain rent and potato rent, are commonly used.
double rent.Twice the amount of rent agreed to; specif., a penalty of twice the amount of rent
against a tenant who holds possession of the leased property after the date provided in the tenant’s
notice to quit. • The penalty was provided by the Distress for Rent Act, 1737, 11 Geo. 2, ch. 19, §
- [Cases: Landlord and Tenant 216. C.J.S. Landlord and Tenant §§ 547–551.]
dry rent.Rent reserved without a distress clause allowing the rent to be collected by distress;
rent that can be collected only by an ordinary legal action. — Formerly also termed rent seck.
economic rent.See ECONOMIC RENT.
grain rent.See crop rent.
ground rent. 1. Rent paid by a tenant under a long-term lease for the use of undeveloped land,
usu. for the construction of a commercial building. — Also termed redeemable ground rent. See
ground lease under LEASE. 2. A heritable interest, in rental income from land, reserved by a
grantor who conveys the land in fee simple. • This type of ground rent is found primarily in
Maryland and Pennsylvania. — Also termed (in Scots law) irredeemable ground rent; ground
annual. [Cases: Estates in Property 13. C.J.S. Estates §§ 159–192.]
guild rent.Hist. Rent payable to the Crown by a guild. — Also spelled gild-rent.
irredeemable ground rent.See ground rent (2).
net rent.The rental price for property after payment of expenses, such as repairs, utilities, and
taxes. [Cases: Landlord and Tenant 200.2.]
rack-rent. See RACK-RENT.
redeemable ground rent.See ground rent (1).
2.Hist. A compensation or return made periodically by a tenant or occupant for the possession
and use of lands or corporeal hereditaments; money, chattels, or services issuing usu. annually out
of lands and tenements as payment for use.
quit rent.See QUIT RENT.
rent charge.The right to receive an annual sum from the income of land, usu. in perpetuity,
and to retake possession if the payments are in arrears. — Also spelled rent-charge; rentcharge. —
Also termed fee-farm rent.
“Rent-charge is a rent with liberty to distrain. As when a man seised of land granteth by a
deed poll, or by indenture, a yearly rent going out of the same land to another in fee or fee-tail, or
for a term of life, etc. with clause of distress, or maketh a feoffment in fee by indenture, reserving
to himself a certain yearly rent, with clause of distress.” Sir Henry Finch, Law, or a Discourse
Thereof 155 (1759).
“A rentcharge is an annual or periodic payment charged upon, and payable by the owner of,
land. Unlike a rent service, in the case of a rentcharge there is no tenure or privity of estate
between the parties. The owner of a rentcharge has no tenurial relationship with the land upon
which it is charged. A rentcharge is a species of incorporeal property, but, unlike an easement, is
incorporeal property in gross, being enjoyed by the owner personally and not in the capacity of
proprietor of land.” Peter Butt, Land Law 330 (2d ed. 1988).
rent seck.Hist. A rent reserved by deed but without any clause of distress. — Also spelled
rent-seck; rent-sec. — Also termed dry rent. Pl. rents seck.
“But rents-seck have long ceased to exist, because the inability of their owners to distrain was
abolished by the Landlord and Tenant Act, 1730 (4 George II), which enacted that the owners of
rents-seck, rents of assize and chief rents should have the same remedy by distress as existed in
the case of rent reserved upon lease.” G.C. Cheshire, Modern Law of Real Property 199 (3d ed.
1933).
“At common law, the relationship of lord and tenant carried with it an automatic right of
distress for any rent. If no such relationship existed, there was no common law right of distress,
and consequently an express clause of distress was frequently inserted when reserving the rent. A
rent supported by no right of distress was known as a rent seck (from the Latin siccus, dry,
barren) …. Rent seck ceased to exist many years ago, for by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1730, the
owners of rents seck were given the same rights of distress as a landlord has against his tenant
under a lease, namely, a right to distrain as soon as the rent is in arrear.” Robert E. Megarry & P.V.
Baker, A Manual of the Law of Real Property 409 (4th ed. 1969).
rent service.A rent with some corporeal service incident to it (as by fealty) and with a right of
distress. — Also written rent-service.
“[R]ent-service exists only where the relation of landlord and tenant is found, and in such a
case rent derives its name from the fact that it was given as a substitute for the services to which
the land was originally liable.” G.C. Cheshire, Modern Law of Real Property 198 (3d ed. 1933).
3.Civil law. A contract by which one party conveys to another party a tract of land or other
immovable property, to be held by the other party as owner and in perpetuity, in exchange for
payment of an annual sum of money or quantity of fruits. • Under Louisiana law, the rent is
essentially redeemable even though stipulated to be perpetual. The seller may set the terms of the
redemption, which must take place after a stipulated time (not to exceed 30 years).La. Civ. Code
art. 2788. See FRUIT(2). — Also termed rent of lands. [Cases: Landlord and Tenant 181. C.J.S.
Landlord and Tenant §§ 462–465.] 4. The difference between the actual return from a commodity
or service and the cost of supplying it; the difference between revenue and opportunity cost. —
rent,vb. [Blacks Law 8th]