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Key money is one of several forms of payment made to a landlord. [1] The term has various meanings in different parts of the world. It sometimes means money paid to an existing tenant who assigns a lease to a new tenant where the rent is below market. It sometimes means a bribe to a landlord. In other parts of the world, it is used synonymously with normal security deposits, which are used to cover nonpayment of rent and excessive damage to a rental unit.
In many states of Australia (New South Wales, Victoria, etc.), the Retail Leases Act calls key-money a payment or benefit without true consideration, expected from a tenant in order for a lease being granted, renewed or modified, and makes such payment illegal.
In Japan, reikin ( 礼金 , literally, "gratitude money") is a mandatory payment to the landlord that is often the same amount as the original deposit (shikikin). However, reikin can be the equivalent of six months (or more) of rent, but is typically the same as one to three months of rent. This money is considered a gift to the landlord and is not returned after the lease is canceled.
There are regional variations – in Kantō (Eastern Japan, including Tōkyō), a renewal fee (更新料, kōshinryō) is typically charged at contract renewal, similar to repetition of key money, while in Ōsaka key money is instead deducted from a large security deposit, which is known as shikibiki (敷引き), from "rental deposit" (敷金, shikikin). [2]
In recent years, an increasing number of landlords and real estate agencies have begun to offer reikin-free rental housing, and the semipublic Urban Renaissance Agency does not charge key money or renewal fees.
In South Korea, the key money system (as opposed to monthly rent or wolse) requires the lessee to make a deposit of about one-third to two-thirds the total cost of the leased property in lieu of monthly payment. The key money is returned when the lease expires. The key money deposit will not be returned before termination of the lease unless another lessee replaces the outgoing lessee.
It is goodwill[ clarification needed ] and non-refundable. It is known as PAGHRI.
In France, a tenant who has a lease that is below market can assign that lease to a new tenant. The new landlord is required to accept the original rent from the new tenant. The new tenant essentially buys the lease from the original tenant. The capitalization factor is financial and strategic, depending on cost of money, importance of the site to the taker and the location of the site. The ratio used goes from 0 (poor locations) to 12 (top locations).[ clarification needed ] The remaining number of years of the contract has little or no impact unless it falls under the legal provision of déplafonnement du loyer, in which the landlord is automatically allowed to ask for a new, market-rate rent regardless of the rent paid so far.
In Sweden, it is illegal for the landlord or an existing tenant to ask for compensation for an apartment lease, but a significant [3] black market for rental contracts is believed to exist in some cities such as Stockholm. [4] The Swedish Union of Tenants believes that the illegal practice of demanding key money or other compensation happens at most private landlord companies, [5] while the landlords' advocacy group Fastighetsägarna believes that as much as half of the rental contracts are wrongly obtained at any time, [6] and proposes a reduction of rent control as a solution. [7] Merely paying key money is not a crime, [5] but is considered by many to be a way of cheating (since you sidestep the queue system). It typically results in immediate termination of your lease if discovered.
However, it is legal to require a security deposit when renting out an apartment or house. [8] It is rarely done when a commercial or public landlord is renting out an apartment to an individual, since it is easy for the landlord to get any debts collected. When individuals rent out to other individuals, or when businesses rent commercial premises, a security deposit of 1–6 months is usually requested.
In the Netherlands, key money (sleutelgeld) is a payment without consideration, often required by either the landlord or by the vacating tenant. The amount can vary from a symbolical amount up to one or more monthly lease terms. However, key money is deemed illegal and repayment can be enforced by legal means. [9] As the Netherlands experience a shortage in living space (especially in Amsterdam and other large cities in the west), landlords and tenants nevertheless often ask for key money despite it being illegal.
In the United States, it is common to require key money in the form of a security deposit. The tenant pays one or two months' rent up-front. These funds are then held in escrow and are used to offset delinquent payments or damage to the property. If neither happens, the money is refunded (typically with statutory interest) when the tenant vacates. It is illegal but common for unscrupulous landlords to refuse to refund some or all of this deposit, instead keeping it for unneeded "cleaning" or "repairs". [10] Landlord-tenant laws in the United States typically specify that a landlord must provide a detailed accounting of all deductions from a security deposit on request and normally cannot charge for "normal wear and tear", such as replacing old carpets or painting walls that have not been painted for many years.
Generally in the United States, apartment leases are not transferable without the consent of the landlord. The primary exception is the right to rent a space in a mobile home park, which is frequently transferable, frequently rent-controlled, and frequently subject to French-style "key money" payments to the original tenant in the form of buying the current mobile home at an inflated price. The new tenant can then junk the existing, outdated trailer and replace it with a modern one while keeping the terms of the original lease for the land under it.
When renting commercial properties in which the premises already contains various trade-fixtures, equipment, electric, and plumbing (items typically left when a former tenant vacates), such items have a value above the typical rent for an empty "vanilla shell" premises. The landlord would charge the tenant key money in order for the tenant to have the right to use and take over all of the existing equipment.
In Mexico, key money is referred to as "guante" (translating to "glove" in English).[ citation needed ]
Since key money is in many cases illegal for the reason that it is a payment without consideration or even a bribe, it is often disguised as other costs:
Renting, also known as hiring or letting, 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. To maintain such an agreement, a rental agreement is signed to establish the roles and expectations of both the tenant and landlord. There are many different types of leases. The type and terms of a lease are decided by the landlord and agreed upon by the renting tenant.
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant. When a juristic person is in this position, the term landlord is used. Other terms include lessor and owner. The term landlady may be used for the female owners. The manager of a pub in the United Kingdom, strictly speaking a licensed victualler, is referred to as the landlord/landlady. In political economy it refers to the owner of natural resources alone from which an economic rent, a form of passive income, is the income received.
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user to pay the owner for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial or business equipment are also leased. In essence, a lease agreement is a contract between two parties: the lessor and the lessee. The lessor is the legal owner of the asset, while the lessee obtains the right to use the asset in return for regular rental payments. The lessee also agrees to abide by various conditions regarding their use of the property or equipment. For example, a person leasing a car may agree to the condition that the car will only be used for personal use.
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant has rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a leasehold estate is typically considered personal property.
A waiver is the voluntary relinquishment or surrender of some known right or privilege.
A Lease-Purchase Contract, also known as a lease purchase agreement or rent-to-own agreement, allows consumers to obtain durable goods or rent-to-own real estate without entering into a standard credit contract. It is a shortened name for a lease with option to purchase contract. For real estate, a lease purchase contract combines elements of a traditional rental agreement with an exclusive right of first refusal option for later purchase of the home.
A rental agreement is a contract of rental, usually written, between the owner of a property and a renter who desires to have temporary possession of the property; it is distinguished from a lease, which is more typically for a fixed term. As a minimum, the agreement identifies the parties, the property, the term of the rental, and the amount of rent for the term. The owner of the property may be referred to as the lessor and the renter as the lessee.
Jeonse, also known as chŏnse, key money deposit or key money, is a type of lease or deposit common in the South Korean real estate market. Instead of paying monthly rent, a renter will make a lump-sum deposit on a rental space, at anywhere from 50% to 80% of the market value, which is then returned at the end of the lease term. The owners make profit from reinvesting the jeonse deposit, instead of receiving the monthly rent. It is also possible to combine a lower jeonse with a small monthly rent.
Rent-to-own, also known as rental purchase or rent-to-buy, is a type of legally documented transaction under which tangible property, such as furniture, consumer electronics, motor vehicles, home appliances, engagement rings, and real property, is leased in exchange for a weekly or monthly payment, with the option to purchase at some point during the agreement.
Accounting for leases in the United States is regulated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) by the Financial Accounting Standards Number 13, now known as Accounting Standards Codification Topic 840. These standards were effective as of January 1, 1977. The FASB completed in February 2016 a revision of the lease accounting standard, referred to as ASC 842.
A lease option is a type of contract used in both residential and commercial real estate. In a lease-option, a property owner and tenant agree that, at the end of a specified rental period for a given property, the renter has the option of purchasing the property.
A slumlord is a slang term for a landlord, generally an absentee landlord with more than one property, who attempts to maximize profit by minimizing spending on property maintenance, and to tenants that they can intimidate. Severe housing shortages allow slumlords to charge higher rents and, when they can get away with it, to break rental laws.
A credit tenant lease is a method of financing real estate. A "credit tenant lease" is a lease from a landlord to a tenant that carries sufficient guarantees that lenders will perceive the rent cash flows from the lease are as reliable as a corporate bond. This typically requires that the tenant have exceptionally good credit, often that the property is essential to the tenant, and contractual obligations that ensure that these rents will be among the tenant's highest obligations. Usually, the lease is structured as a triple net lease, in which a tenant is responsible for insurance, property taxes, and most or all repair and maintenance costs.
Landlord harassment is the willing creation, by a landlord or their agents, of conditions that are uncomfortable for one or more tenants in order to induce willing abandonment of a rental contract. This is illegal in many jurisdictions, either under general harassment laws or specific protections, as well as under the terms of rental contracts or tenancy agreements.
Leaseback, short for "sale-and-leaseback", is a financial transaction in which one sells an asset and leases it back for the long term; therefore, one continues to be able to use the asset but no longer owns it. The transaction is generally done for fixed assets, notably real estate, as well as for durable and capital goods such as airplanes and trains. The concept can also be applied by national governments to territorial assets; prior to the Falklands War, the government of the United Kingdom proposed a leaseback arrangement whereby the Falklands Islands would be transferred to Argentina, with a 99-year leaseback period, and a similar arrangement, also for 99 years, had been in place prior to the handover of Hong Kong to mainland China. Leaseback arrangements are usually employed because they confer financing, accounting or taxation benefits.
A security deposit is a sum of money held in trust.
Landlord–tenant law is the field of law that deals with the rights and duties of landlords and tenants.
The South African law of lease is an area of the legal system in South Africa which describes the rules applicable to a contract of lease. This is broadly defined as a synallagmatic contract between two parties, the lessor and the lessee, in terms of which one, the lessor, binds himself to give the other, the lessee, the temporary use and enjoyment of a thing, in whole or in part, or of his services or those of another person; the lessee, meanwhile, binds himself to pay a sum of money as compensation, or rent, for that use and enjoyment. The law of lease is often discussed as a counterpart to the law of sale.
A retail lease is a legal document outlining the terms under which one party agrees to rent property from another party. A lease guarantees the lessee use of an asset and guarantees the lessor regular payments from the lessee for a specified number of months or years. Both the lessee and the lessor must uphold the terms of the contract for the lease to remain valid.
The Model Tenancy Act, 2019 is a proposed tenancy law by the Government of India, designed to overhaul the tenancy market in India.