rent

noun

/rent/

Idioms

jump to other results

[uncountable, countable] an amount of money that you regularly pay so that you can use a house, room, etc.
- I earn just about enough to pay the rent.
- How much rent do you pay for this place?
- The landlord has put the rent up again.
- The landlord charged them a month's rent in advance.
- a high/low/fair rent
- He was evicted for rent arrears.
- rent for something What's the average rent for homes in your part of town?
- rent on something The rent on the two-bedroom flat was £250 a week.
- at a … rent The supply of housing at affordable rents became inadequate.
- at a rent of something The property is available at a rent of £55,000 per annum.
- (British English) a rent book (= used to record payments of rent)
see also ground rent, peppercorn rent
Synonyms rate
rate
- charge
- fee
- rent
- fine
- fare
- toll
- rental
These are all words for an amount of money that is charged or paid for something.
- rate a fixed amount of money that is asked or paid for something:
  a low hourly rate of pay
  interest rates
- charge an amount of money that is asked for goods or services:
  an admission charge
- fee (rather formal) an amount of money that you have to pay for professional advice or services, to go to a school or college, or to join an organization:
  legal fees
  an annual membership fee
- rent an amount of money that you regularly have to pay for use of a building or room. In American English, rent can be used to mean rental: The weekly rent on the car was over $300.
- fine a sum of money that must be paid as punishment for breaking a law or rule:
  a parking fine
- fare the money that you pay to travel by bus, plane, taxi, etc.
- toll an amount of money that you have to pay to use a particular road or bridge.
- rental an amount of money that you have to pay to use something for a particular period of time.
rent or rental?In British English rent is only money paid to use a building or room: for other items use rental. In American English rent can be used for both, but rental is still more common for other items.Patterns
- (a) rate/charge/fee/rent/fine/fare/toll/rental for something
- (a) rate/charge/fee/rent/toll/rental on something
- at a rate/charge/fee/rent/fare/rental of…
- for a charge/fee
- to pay (a) rate/charge/fee/rent/fine/fare/toll/rental
- to charge (a) rate/fee/rent/fare/toll/rental
Collocations Moving house
Moving house Renting
- live in a rented/(especially North American English) rental property
- rent/share/move into a furnished house/(British English) flat/(especially North American English) apartment
- rent a studio/(British English) a studio flat/(especially North American English) a studio apartment/(British English) a bedsit
- find/get a housemate/(British English) a flatmate/(North American English) a roommate
- sign/break the lease/rental agreement/contract
- extend/renew/terminate the lease/(British English) tenancy
- afford/pay the rent/the bills/(North American English) the utilities
- (especially British English) fall behind with/ (especially North American English) fall behind on the rent
- pay/lose/return a damage deposit/(North American English) security deposit
- give/receive a month’s/two-weeks’ notice to leave/vacate the property
Being a landlord
- have a flat/an apartment/a room (British English) to let/(especially North American English) for rent
- rent (out)/lease (out)/ (British English) let (out)/sublet a flat/an apartment/a house/a property
- collect/increase/raise the rent
- evict the existing tenants
- attract/find new/prospective tenants
- invest in rental property/(British English) property to let/(British English) the buy-to-let market
Buying
- buy/acquire/purchase a house/(a) property/(especially North American English) (a piece of) prime real estate
- call/contact/use (British English) an estate agent/(North American English) a Realtor™/(North American English) a real estate agent/broker
- make/ (British English) put in an offer on a house
- put down/save for (British English) a deposit on a house
- make/put/save for (especially North American English) a down payment on a house/home
- apply for/arrange/take out a mortgage/home loan
- (struggle to) pay the mortgage
- make/meet/keep up/cover the monthly mortgage payments/(British English also) repayments
- (British English) repossess/ (especially North American English) foreclose on somebody’s home/house
Selling
- put your house/property on the market/up for sale/up for auction
- increase/lower your price/the asking price
- have/hold/hand over the deed/(especially British English) deeds of/to the house, land, etc.
compare hire
Extra Examples
- He couldn't afford the rent by himself.
- The company has paid out a lot of money in rent.
- The company receives rent on local property that it owns.
- The initial rent will be reviewed annually.
- The landlord came around to collect the month's rent.
- The large stores have pushed up the rents in the area.
- The movement advocated the non-payment of rent and taxes.
- The new lease will put her rent up to £200 a week.
- The rent charged depends largely on the size and locality of the flat.
- The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.
- The rent is due on the last day of the quarter.
- The rent will be fixed at 18% of the market value of the property.
- The tenants were not prepared to pay the higher rents demanded.
- Their rent has increased from $25 200 to $28 600 a year.
- There was a sign saying ‘Room for rent’.
- They earned rent from their property in London.
- They get free rent in return for taking care of the house.
- They took the landlord to court over increasing rent levels.
- They weren't paying market rent on the properties.
- Thousands try to avoid the rent man so they can have more cash to spend.
- We gave tenants rent books.
- You put your tenancy at risk if you fall behind with the rent.
- the rent on a factory
- to be liable for arrears of rent
- Rents are rising in the business district.
- They began falling behind in their rent.
Topics Houses and homesb1, Moneyb1
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- exorbitant
- high
- affordable
- …
verb + rent
- pay
- afford
- be behind with
- …
rent + verb
- be due
- be payable
- go up
- …
rent + noun
- money
- payment
- book
- …
preposition
- in rent
- rent for
- rent from
- …
phrases
- arrears of rent
- for rent
- a month’s, a year’s, etc. rent
- …
See full entry
(especially North American English)
(also rental British and North American English)
[uncountable, countable] the amount of money that you pay to use something for a particular period of time
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- exorbitant
- high
- affordable
- …
verb + rent
- pay
- afford
- be behind with
- …
rent + verb
- be due
- be payable
- go up
- …
rent + noun
- money
- payment
- book
- …
preposition
- in rent
- rent for
- rent from
- …
phrases
- arrears of rent
- for rent
- a month’s, a year’s, etc. rent
- …
See full entry
[countable] (old use or literary) a torn place in a piece of material or clothing

Word Originnoun senses 1 to 2 Middle English: from Old French rente, from a root shared by render. noun sense 3 mid 16th cent.: from obsolete rent ‘pull to pieces, lacerate’, variant of rend.

Idioms

for rent

(especially North American English) (especially on printed signs) available to rentTopics Houses and homesc1

British/American rent / hire / letrent / hire / letVerbs

You can hire something for a short period of time, (British English only) but rent something for a longer period:
- We can hire bikes for a day to explore the town.
- We don’t own our TV, we rent it.
In North American English, rent is always used. It is sometimes now used in British English instead of hire, too.
The owners of a thing can hire it out for a short period:
- (British English) Do you hire out bikes?
Or they can rent (out)/let (out) a building, etc:
- We rent out rooms in our house to students.
Outside a building you could see:
- (British English) To let
- (especially North American English) For rent
.
To hire can also mean to employ somebody, especially in North American English:
- We hired a new secretary.

rent

verb

/rent/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they rent	/rent/ /rent/
he / she / it rents	/rents/ /rents/
past simple rented	/ˈrentɪd/ /ˈrentɪd/
past participle rented	/ˈrentɪd/ /ˈrentɪd/
-ing form renting	/ˈrentɪŋ/ /ˈrentɪŋ/

jump to other results

[transitive, intransitive] to regularly pay money to somebody so that you can use something that they own, such as a house, a room, some land, etc.
- Are you looking to buy or rent?
- rent something to rent a house/an apartment
- to live in rented accommodation/housing/property
- The property is available to rent on a short-term lease.
- We're looking for a house to rent in the area.
- rent something from somebody Who do you rent the land from?
Extra Examples
- We rented a cottage from an agency.
- privately rented accommodation
- She had to rent from a private landlord.
Topics Houses and homesb1, Moneyb1
[transitive] to allow somebody to use something that you own such as a house or some land in exchange for regular payments
- rent something (out) We rented our house out for a year when we went abroad.
- She bought a three-bedroom flat with the objective of renting two rooms.
- He is making a profit from renting out the property.
- rent something (out) to somebody He rents rooms in his house to students.
- The land is rented out to other farmers.
- She agreed to rent the room to me.
- rent somebody something She agreed to rent me the room.
[transitive] rent something (especially North American English) to pay money to somebody so that you can use something for a short period of time
- to rent a film/movie/DVD
- We rented a car for the week and explored the area.
- to rent a bike/van/boat
- They rented a meeting room in a downtown hotel.
compare hire
Extra Examples
- She rented a car at the airport.
- You can rent mountain bikes and explore the area.
Topics Moneyb1
[intransitive] (North American English) to be available for somebody to use if they pay a particular amount of money
- The apartment rents for $500 a month.
past tense, past participle of rend

Word Originverb Middle English: from Old French rente, from a root shared by render.