Also known as: rentees · lessee · tenant
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A person who leases real property from a landlord under a landlord-tenant relationship.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Rajesh Rao negotiated with Redwood Bank to lease a commercial unit for exactly three years beginning January 1. The parties executed a written lease specifying the start and end dates. Rajesh Rao took possession as the rentee on the agreed date and paid rent monthly. The fixed duration satisfied the requirements for forming a landlord-tenant relationship.
Rhea Reynolds, a joint tenant with her sibling, leased her undivided interest in a duplex to Radiant Technologies for two years. The lease did not sever the joint tenancy. Radiant Technologies occupied the premises as a co-tenant with the non-leasing joint tenant. When Rhea Reynolds died before the lease expired, her interest passed to the survivor free of the lease.
Rebecca Ross conveyed a life estate in farmland to her brother with a remainder in fee to his issue. The brother held possession as life tenant while his children held the future interest. Any subsequent lessee of the brother would hold as rentee only for the duration of the brother's life estate.
Riley Rivera predeceased her spouse while holding a joint tenancy interest in rental property with the spouse. The property value for elective-share purposes was fixed immediately before Riley Rivera's death. The surviving spouse's fractional interest was determined at that moment. Any lease on the property was accounted for in the probate valuation.
Renee Rogers leased an apartment from Reliance Insurance on a month-to-month basis. Either party could terminate by giving one month's notice at the end of a rental period. Renee Rogers remained the rentee until proper notice was served and the period expired. The lease continued automatically absent timely termination.
Regina Robinson entered a lease with Ridgeway Partners that contained no fixed term and allowed either party to end the arrangement at any time. The agreement created a tenancy at will. Regina Robinson occupied the premises as rentee until Ridgeway Partners gave the required statutory notice. The relationship ended once notice was properly delivered.
The term rentee is labeled rare in legal dictionaries and is not used in the Restatement (Second) of Property or the Uniform Probate Code. Those authorities instead employ the word tenant when describing the party who receives possession under a lease.
Supporting sources
A rentee holds only the possessory rights transferred by the leasing joint tenant. The lease does not sever the joint tenancy, so the rentee's interest ends if the leasing joint tenant dies before the lease term expires.
A rentee in a periodic tenancy is entitled to the notice period specified by statute or the lease before the tenancy ends at the conclusion of a rental period. One month's notice is generally sufficient except for farm or grazing land.
…in Kuhn v. Fairmont Coal Co. , 215 U.S. 349, 370, and in the Taxicab case, 276 U.S. at 532. [^maj-2]: In Hawkins v. Barney's Lessee , 5 Pet. 457, 464, it was stated that § 34 "has been uniformly held to be no more than a declaration of what the law would have been without it: to wit, that the lex loci must be the…