What is another word for renting?

Answer 1

Another word for renting would be hiring

This term is used for car hire as it would be bad English to say I hired a house.

One would generally use the word 'hire' for a short term contract.

Alternatively the word 'Lease' can be interchanged with the word 'rent'.

You can Lease a Property, a Car or other items.

Car 'Hire' is generally a Short Term contract - i.e. whilst on holiday. You might also 'hire' a holiday home or apartment. In such an instance this would Not be poor English and 'hire' is interchangeable with the word 'rent'!

A 'Lease' agreement is generally for a longer period. One might, for instance, have a 5yr Lease-hire

contract for a vehicle or perhaps a 1yr Lease or Rental contract on a house.

Hire-purchase (HP) is where goods other than 'immovable' property are purchased using a Credit Agreement.

With Hire-purchase the goods are used during the Term of the contract and ownership of the goods changes hands at the end of the term/contract when the final payment has been made.

With a Lease agreement ownership is Never transferred to the Lessee. During the Term, the goods are USED by the Lessee - At the end of the term the goods (vehicle or other movable property) revert to the Lessor and a new agreement may be entered into for a new or upgraded item.

Interestingly.

Many years ago in the UK, when Televisions were a relatively new commodity, and many ordinary working people could not afford to Purchase a TV set, there were companies that specialised in Leasing them to the public. The 'Old' TV's were by no means as reliable as the modern TV and often required repair, and by Leasing the TV, people enjoyed the confidence of not having the burden of potentially expensive repairs. Also - as when any new technology become available - the cost of Purchasing a TV, in relation to salaries, was astronomical.

To put cost of a purchase into some kind of perspective:

In 1974, when Colour TV had just come onto the market, my husband and I purchased what was considered an 'inexpensive' or Not a Top Brand item for around 500 pounds sterling - which was about 5 times my monthly salary at the time. Today, living here in South Africa, a young woman might earn R5000 per month and that would be equivalent to a 'cheaper brand' television costing R25 000.

Put like that, is it any wonder that 'Leasing' these goods was big business?