Vocabulary Related to Renting

Vocabulary Related to Renting

Hello English learners! Are you moving house? Or would you like to move house to a better or nicer place, at least during the summer months? In today’s blog entry, we will be learning vocabulary and collocations related to renting. I’m sure they’ll be useful sooner or later. 😊

The words and expressions we are going to look at are as follows:

• To rent a room / flat (apartment) / house
• Sign the lease / rental agreement
• Rent (money)
• Deposit (money)
• Tenant
• Roommate/flatmate
• Landlord/landlady
• Furnished / unfurnished apartment
• Break the lease / rental agreement
• Notice period

Vocabulary and collocations related to renting

To rent a room / flat (apartment) / house

Renting refers to temporarily occupying, so if you rent a room or a flat / house, you make it your temporary possession. You usually pay for it in monthly intervals. 

• Rob and his girlfriend are renting a room on a Greek island. They will be staying there throughout the summer. 
• We’ve been trying to rent a flat in London for months, but real estate is very expensive there, and you typically need to pay a year or two in advance to secure a rental agreement. 
• The Petersons have rented a two-bedroom mountain house. They sent me the photos. Look how beautiful it is!

 Sign the lease / rental agreement

Before you move into a rented property, you will likely need to sign a lease or a rental agreement, which are essentially the same document. It contains the rules that you and your landlord must agree to by signing it.

• After you sign the lease, you will get your key to the apartment.
• When we arrived at our new apartment, we took a shower and then went to the real estate agent to sign the rental agreement and complete the other formalities.

Vocabulary and collocations related to renting

Rent (money)

Rent money refers to the fees you are obliged to pay for the use of a flat or a house.

• If they increase the rent, we will look for another apartment.
• We spent all our rent money on food and drinks, so the landlord gave us a week to move out.
• When we were in Greece last summer, Martin sold his watch to pay the rent for another month. 

Deposit (money)

Owners of rented real estate usually ask for a deposit. It is supposed to cover the expenses if something gets damaged. However, if you leave the apartment in good condition, you are supposed to get your deposit money back.

• Mark put a deposit of £500 on the apartment.
• If things in the apartment are as they used to be when you first moved in, you’ll get your deposit money back. However, in the event that something is damaged or missing, we will keep it to make up for the loss.

Vocabulary and collocations related to renting

Tenant

Once you start living in a rented house or an apartment, you become a tenant.

• The painting on the wall was painted by a previous tenant.
• The tenant is required to inform the landlord of any damage made to the apartment.
• We had some tenants who didn’t pay the rent, so we had to call the police to evict them from the flat.

Roommate/flatmate

A roommate or a flatmate is a person who shares a rented room or a house/flat with you.

• Celia was my roommate during my first year of studies. We used to study together and often went to parties. 
• We have a roommate schedule in our apartment that outlines responsibilities for cleaning and cooking. 

Vocabulary and collocations related to renting

Landlord/landlady

The landlord and landlady are the owners of the rented property. They are the people with whom you sign the lease / rental agreement. 

• I owe rent to the landlord. Could you lend me some money?
• The landlord took the tenants to court for damaging the furniture in the apartment.
• Our landlady is a kind and helpful elderly lady. We were so sorry to leave her when we moved out.

 Furnished/unfurnished apartment

A furnished room or a flat is one which has furniture in it, whereas an unfurnished one doesn’t. 

• Since we have no furniture whatsoever, we are going to rent a furnished apartment.
• Unfurnished real estate is typically less expensive than furnished real estate. 
• You can get a cheap, unfurnished apartment for that money if you have some basic stuff.

Vocabulary and collocations related to renting

Break the lease/rental agreement

To break the lease or rental agreement means that you stop living in the house or apartment you’ve rented, so you no longer need to pay rent or utility bills. 

• Now, when we’re engaged, David and I have decided to break the lease on my apartment and move into his apartment.
• Well, we can’t break the lease just like that before we find another place to live.
• Do you think the landlord will keep the deposit after we break the rental agreement?

Notice period

You are supposed to tell your landlord that you’re going to leave the flat or apartment within the period you agreed on in a rental agreement.

• We agreed on a £ 300 deposit and a 30-day notice period with our landlady.
• Our lease will be terminated on July 25th, following a two-week notice period.

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