Although specifics vary by jurisdiction, rent control is a restriction on chargeable rent by a landlord in a given area—generally imposed by a municipality. Only five states and the District of Columbia currently have active rent control laws...
landlord & tenant
rental agreement
A rental agreement is a contract (written or oral) under which a landlord allows a tenant to use and occupy its property for short time periods. Commonly, a rental agreement has a monthly duration to the extent it expires and is renewed by...
rental value
Rental value is the amount of a currency for which premises will be leased; the fair value of what the property would lease for in the open market; what a similar property in the same condition and geographic area would lease for.
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repair and deduct
When a landlord fails to make a significant repair in a reasonable amount of time, and the defect is material, the tenant can repair at his or her own cost and then deduct the cost of the repairs from rent. The defect must be material, which...
retaliatory eviction
A retaliatory eviction is an eviction of a tenant by a landlord that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the tenant's exercise of a legal right, such as complaining in good faith to the health department, using a tenant remedy such as rent...
security deposit
A security deposit is a payment required by a landlord to ensure that a tenant pays rent on time and keeps the rental unit in good condition.
Cases such as this one from Connecticut, explain that “security deposit is money...
sublease
A sublease is a lease by the lessee of an estate to a third person, conveying all or part of the estate for a shorter term than that for which the lessee holds originally. A sublease is a new contract between the lessee and the sublessee. The...
subtenant
See the definition for sublessee in sublease.
[Last updated in August of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]
tenancy
A tenancy is a right that a tenant has to temporarily occupy or possess a real estate that belongs to a landlord, commonly under a lease.
There are different types of tenancies, like periodic tenancy, tenancy at will, and a...
tenancy at sufferance
A tenancy at sufferance is created when a tenant wrongfully holds over past the end of the duration period of the tenancy (for example, a tenant who stays past the expiration of their lease). In this case, the landlord can hold over the tenant to a new...