a legal contract covering the possession and use of property, plant or equipment between the owner ( lessor) and another person ( lessee) at a given rent, for a stated length of time. Glossary of Business Terms
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A contract providing for the use of property in which one party (the owner, landlord, or lessor) allows another party (the tenant or lessee) to use the property in exchange for value given to the lessor. May cover either real or personal property.
Long-term, noncancelable leases, called capital leases, must be carried on the lessee's balance sheet as liabilities under GAAP. When they are recorded on the lessee's balance sheet, they are said to be capitalized.
Short-term, cancelable leases, sometimes called operating leases, do not have to be capitalized. American Banker Glossary
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1. if you lease something to someone, you give them the right to use it for a particular period of time in return for payment:
lease somebody something
• The local authority leased him the property.
lease something to somebody
• AT&T leased the building to Sony and said it would find cheaper space elsewhere.
lease something out (to somebody)
• We lease the land out to the forestry people.
2. if you lease something from someone, you pay them to let you use it for a particular period of time:
lease something from somebody
• All its scientific equipment is leased from another company.
— see also sublease, sublet a legal contract that allows a person or organization to make payments to use something for a particular period of time:
• The initial term of the lease (= the time that it lasts ) is 10 years, with three additional 10-year renewal options.
• The company leases cars to corporate fleets and then sells them when the leases expire (= end ) .
• The largest portion of the airline's debt load was from off-balance-sheet aircraft leases.
in Britain, a lease on land where the person or organization leasing it builds buildings and pays rent for the land
a lease allowing someone to use a car:
• She set up her first car lease business in 2000.
deˌrivative ˈlease
PROPERTY LAW an arrangement in which a person renting a property with a lease arranges another lease on the same property, allowing another person to rent the property from them
— compare sublease, sublet
a lease where an
airline leases aircraft directly from their maker or from a leasing company, rather than from another airline:
• The deal between Croatian Airlines and Airbus includes the dry lease of an A320 model.
a lease for machinery, vehicles etc used by a business:
• The mining company may be unable to pay its rental obligations on $3.8 million in equipment leases.
fiˈnance ˌlease also fiˌnancial ˈlease FINANCE LAW
a lease in which a company obtains land or equipment with a bank buying the assets and leasing them back to the company:
• It has the opportunity to finance these assets by way of rental payments under finance leases rather than by direct acquisition.
a lease allowing a company to use particular equipment:
• An operating lease lasts for a much shorter period of time than the economic life of the asset.
in Britain an arrangement in which the person renting a building is responsible for paying for repairs to it
a lease allowing a person or organization to run and operate a shop:
• BizMart agreed to acquire five store leases in Minneapolis from Highland Superstores.
a lease in which an
airline flies between two countries with aircraft leased from an airline in a third country
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Ⅰ.
lease UK US /liːs/ noun [C] COMMERCE, LAW
► »
The company signed a lease for the property in December.
»
The original tenant remains liable throughout the entire term of the lease.
a lease expires/runs out »
The lease expires in 2026.
a 10-/20-/30-year lease »
The company is trying to extend its 30-year lease (with 24 years left to run).
»
a lease agreement/contract/payment
»
a long-term/short-term lease
Ⅱ.
lease UK US /liːs/ verb [T] COMMERCE, LAW
► lease sth (from sb) »
The firm recently made plans to lease another 8,000 square feet from the property company.
► lease sth (out) (to sb) »
They are keen to lease out the aircraft to private companies.
lease sb sth »
He gave equity to the firms that leased him office equipment.