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Renting Dictionary

Just what do all those terms mean? These are words and definitions frequently used in a rental lease agreement or home rental agreement.

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Agent: One that acts or has the power or authority to act.
Assignment: The act of assigning. Something, such as a task, that is assigned.
Abandonment: To surrender one's claim to, right to, or interest in; give up entirely.
Alterations: The act or procedure of altering. The condition resulting from altering; modification.
Adult: One who has attained maturity or legal age.
Attorney: A person legally appointed by another to act as his or her agent in the transaction of business, specifically one qualified and licensed to act for plaintiffs and defendants in legal proceedings.
Attorney Fees: Fee charged by an attorney for legal services.
Attachments: The act of attaching or the condition of being attached. A supplementary document that is attached to a primary document: stapled two attachments to the memorandum. Law Legal seizure of property or a person. The writ ordering such a seizure.
Addendum: Something added or to be added, especially a supplement to a book.
Affiliate
: A person, organization, or establishment associated with another as a subordinate, subsidiary, or member: network affiliates.
Amenities: The quality of being pleasant or attractive; agreeableness. Something that contributes to physical or material comfort. A feature that increases attractiveness or value, especially of a piece of real estate or a geographic location.
Application: The act of applying.
Application Fee: Fee charged to fill out an application.
Appurtenances:: Something added to another, more important thing; an appendage. Equipment, such as clothing, tools, or instruments, used for a specific purpose or task; gear. Law A right, privilege, or property that is considered incident to the principal property for purposes such as passage of title, conveyance, or inheritance.
Breach of Contract: A legal claim that one party failed to perform as required under a valid agreement with the other party.
Breach: A failure or violation of a legal obligation. A violation or infraction, as of a law, a legal obligation, or a promise.
Condition: A mode or state of being:
Contract: An agreement between two or more parties, especially one that is written and enforceable by law. The writing or document containing such an agreement.
Covenants: A binding agreement; a compact.A formal sealed agreement or contract. A suit to recover damages for violation of such a contract.
Credit: Reputation for solvency and integrity entitling a person to be trusted in buying or borrowing
Credit Reporting: An account of your credit history, prepared by a credit bureau. A credit report will contain both credit history, such as what you owe to whom and whether you make the payments on time, as well as personal history, such as your former addresses, employment record and lawsuits in which you have been involved. An estimated 50% of all credit reports contain errors, such as accounts that don't belong to you, an incorrect account status or information reported that is older than seven years (ten years in the case of a bankruptcy).
Co-signer: To sign (a document) jointly. To endorse, as for a loan.
Cashiers check: A check drawn by a bank on its own funds and signed by the bank's cashier.
Collections: The act or process of collecting. A group of objects or works to be seen, studied, or kept together. A line of products produced for one season, as those developed by a designer: promoted the summer collection in the store window. An accumulation; a deposit: a collection of dust on the piano. A collecting of money, as in church. The sum so collected.
Cleaning deposit: Payment made to ensure the property is returned to the owner or manager in a clean and maintained manner.
Credit bureau: A private, profit-making company that collects and sells information about a person's credit history. Typical clients include banks, mortgage lenders and credit card companies that use the information to screen applicants for loans and credit cards. There are three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and Trans Union, and they are regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Covenant: The restriction on the use of real estate that governs its use, such as a requirement that the property will be used only for residential purposes. Covenants are found in deeds or in documents that bind everyone who owns land in a particular development.
Damages: Harm or injury to property or a person, resulting in loss of value or the impairment of usefulness.
Discrimination: The act of discriminating. The ability or power to see or make fine distinctions; discernment. Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice.
Default: Failure to perform a task and fulfill an obligation, especially failure to meet a financial obligation: in default on a loan. Law: Failure to make a required court appearance. The failure of one or more competitors or teams to participate in a contest: won the championship by default.
E-Check: Electronic funds transferred electronically.
Eviction: To put out (a tenant, for example) by legal process; expel. To force out; eject. Law: To recover (property, for example) by a superior claim or legal process.
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA): A federal law that is designed to prevent inaccurate or obsolete information from entering or remaining in a credit report. The law requires credit bureaus to adopt reasonable procedures for gathering, maintaining and disseminating information and bars credit bureaus from reporting negative information that is older than seven years, except a bankruptcy, which may be reported for ten. If you notify a credit bureau of an error in your credit report, the FCRA requires the bureau to investigate your allegations within 30 days, review all information you provide, remove inaccurate and unverified information and adopt procedures to keep the information from reappearing. In addition, the law requires that creditors refrain from reporting incorrect information to credit bureaus.
Fair Housing Act and Fair Housing Amendments Act: Federal laws that prohibit housing discrimination on the basis of race or color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or disability. The federal Acts! apply to all aspects of the landlord/tenant relationship, from refusing to rent to members of certain groups to providing different services during tenancy.
Grace Period: A period of time during which you are not required to make payments on a debt.
Homeowner's Association: An organization comprising neighbors concerned with managing the common areas of a subdivision or condominium complex. These associations take on issues such as salting and sanding a subdivision when it snows and collecting dues from residents. The homeowners' association is also responsible for enforcing any covenants, conditions and restrictions that apply to the property.
HUD (Housing and Urban Development): The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is the agency responsible for enforcing the federal Fair Housing Act.
Insurance: The act, business, or system of insuring. The state of being insured. A means of being insured. Coverage by a contract binding a party to indemnify another against specified loss in return for premiums paid. The sum or rate for which such a contract insures something. The periodic premium paid for this coverage. A protective measure:
Interpretation: The act or process of interpreting. A result of interpreting.
Interpreter: One who translates orally from one language into another.
Inspection: The act of inspecting
Injury: Damage or harm done to or suffered by a person or thing: A particular form of hurt, damage, or loss: Law Violation of the rights of another party for which legal redress is available.
Indemnify: To protect against damage, loss, or injury; insure. To make compensation to for damage, loss, or injury suffered.
Judgment: A final court ruling resolving the key questions in a lawsuit and determining the rights and obligations of the opposing parties. For example, after a trial involving a vehicle accident, a court will issue a judgment determining which party was at fault and how much money that party must pay the other.
Lease Agreement: Obligates both you and the tenant for a set period of time, usually a year.
Landlord: One that owns and rents land, buildings, or dwelling units. A man who runs a rooming house or an inn; an innkeeper. Law: One who holds or possesses lands, tenements, or sometimes personal property by any kind of title.
Liable: The state of being liable, that is, legally responsible for an act or omission. Something for which a person is liable. For example, a debt is often called a liability.
Liability: A debt of which you are liable for. You are responsible for a debt making you liable.
Late Fee: The fee charged for not making an agreed payment within a set time frame.
Lawyer
: A person legally appointed by another to act as his or her agent in the transaction of business, specifically one qualified and licensed to act for plaintiffs and defendants in legal proceedings.
Leesee: One that holds a lease.
Lessor: One that lets property under a lease.
Lease Option: A contract in which an owner leases her house (usually for one to five years) to a tenant for a specific monthly rent, and which gives the tenant the right to buy the house at the end of the lease period for a price established in advance. A lease option is often a good arrangement for a potential home buyer because it lets him move into a house he may buy without having to come up with a down payment or financing at that time.
Month to Month Rental Agreement: A month-to-month rental agreement is automatically renewed each month unless you or your tenant gives the other the proper amount of notice (typically 30 days) and terminates the agreement.
Manager: One who handles, controls, or directs, especially: One who directs a business or other enterprise. One who controls resources and expenditures, as of a household.
Minor: One that is lesser in comparison with others of the same class. Law: One who has not reached full legal age.
Maintenance: The act of maintaining or the state of being maintained. The work of keeping something in proper condition; upkeep. Provision of support or livelihood: took over the maintenance of her family. Means of support or livelihood: was ordered to pay maintenance for both children. Law: The unlawful meddling in a suit by providing either party with the means to carry it on.
Mold: Any of various fungi that often cause disintegration of organic matter. The growth of such fungi.
Money Order: An order for the payment of a specified amount of money, usually issued and payable at a bank or post office.
Negligence: The state or quality of being negligent. A negligent act or a failure to act. Law Failure to exercise the degree of care considered reasonable under the circumstances, resulting in an unintended injury to another party
Non sufficient check: Payment made by check that has no funds for total payment.
Occupant: One who has certain legal rights to or control over the premises occupied; a tenant or owner.
Occupancy: The act of occupying or the condition of being occupied. The state of being an occupant or tenant. The period during which one owns, rents, or uses certain premises or land. The use to which something occupied is put: a building for commercial occupancy. Law: The act of taking possession of previously unowned property with the intent of obtaining the right to own it.
Premises: Land and the buildings on it. A building or part of a building.
Possession: The act or fact of possessing. The state of being possessed. Something owned or possessed. Wealth or property. Law: Actual holding or occupancy with or without rightful ownership.
Property damage: Liability insurance for claims brought against a person who causes damage to another's property, as by an automobile accident.
Post-dated check: A check for payment, dated in the future.
Prohibited: To forbid by authority: Smoking is prohibited in most theaters. To prevent; preclude: Modesty prohibits me from saying what happened.
Pet: An animal kept for amusement or companionship. An object of the affections. A person especially loved or indulged; a favorite
Rental Agreement: Establishes a tenancy for a short period of time, usually one month.
Rent: Your lease or rental agreement should specify the amount of rent, when it is due (typically, the first of the month), and how it's to be paid, such as by mail to your office.
Restrictions
: The act of restricting. The state of being restricted. Something that restricts; a regulation or limitation.
Relinquish: To retire from; give up or abandon. To put aside or desist from (something practiced, professed, or intended). To let go; surrender. To cease holding physically; release: relinquish a grip.
Realtor: A service mark used for a real-estate agent affiliated with the National Association of Realtors. This service mark often occurs in print in lowercase and in the plural as well
Renters Insurance: An Insurance policy insuring the renters personal property.
Reference: The act of referring
Roommate: A person with whom one shares a room or rooms.
Subletting: To rent (property one holds by lease) to another
Security Deposit: The condition of being deposited: A partial or initial payment of a cost or debt. A sum of money given as security for an item acquired for temporary use.
Severability: Capable of being severed or separated; separable into legally distinct rights or obligations, as a contract.
Small claims court: A special court established for simplified and efficient handling of small claims on debts.
Tenant: One that pays rent to use or occupy land, a building, or other property owned by another. A dweller in a place; an occupant.
Term of the tenancy.: Every rental document should state whether it is a rental agreement or a fixed-term lease.
Termination: A concluding or terminating. The act of dismissing or the condition of being dismissed from employment. The last part.
Vendor: Seller
Vendee: Purchaser
Void: Having no legal force or effect; legally invalid.
Walk Through: (1) A Buyer's on-site inspection of the property being purchased, just prior to closing. (2) A detailed inspection of a new construction home, in which punch list and cosmetic items are addressed, prior to final acceptance.
Zoning: Exercise of police power of city in regulating and controlling the character or use of property. Zoning laws divide cities into different areas according to use, from single-family residences to industrial plants. Zoning ordinances control the size, location, and use of buildings within these different areas. Houston is the largest city in the U.S. without zoning. Most of the other cities and villages within the Houston Metropolitan Area do have zoning regulations.

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