Renting

Renting, also known as hiring[1] or letting,[2] is an agreement where a payment is made for the use of a good, service or property owned by another over a fixed period of time.

[4] There are many possible reasons for renting instead of buying, for example: Short-term rental of all sorts of products (excluding real estate and holiday apartments) already represents an estimated €108 billion ($160 billion) annual market in Europe and is expected to grow further as the internet makes it easier to find specific items available for rent.

[7] The Great Recession may have contributed to the rapid growth of online rental marketplaces, such as erento, since consumers are more likely to consider renting instead of buying in times of financial hardship.

[8] Environmental concerns, fast depreciation of goods, and a more transient workforce also mean that consumers are increasingly searching for rentals online.

Examples include letting out real estate (real property) for the purpose of housing tenure (where the tenant rents a residence to live in), parking space for a vehicle(s), storage space, whole or portions of properties for business, agricultural, institutional, or government use, or other reasons.

The time use of a chattel or other so called "personal property" is covered under general contract law, but the term lease also nowadays extends to long term rental contracts of more expensive non-Real properties such as automobiles, boats, planes, office equipment and so forth.

In housing, when a tenant rents an apartment but only pays for their room and the common space is a lease-by-room arrangement.