Different concepts exist for land ownership terminology in property law, both for land that is owned outright and for land owned partially to certain degrees. Concepts and terms exist that also attach to land that is merely temporarily leased. Thus, the respective concepts of freehold and leasehold estates.

The term “estate” may sound antiquated to most property owners today. It invokes imagery of regal, sprawling manors of times past. In many ways, this is a true assessment. Like much of the United States’ common law system, our property law derives from England in its original form where there were, incidentally, a myriad of traditional estates, especially in centuries past. Just as we kept their laws, we also often kept their terminology. An estate for years is just one of these terms.

An estate for years represents what is known as a leasehold estate. It is also known as an estate for term or a tenancy for years. Since it is a leasehold estate, as opposed to a freehold estate, in most instances the original owner has leased out the land for a specified period of time to someone else. This is really no different than a renter who is leasing an apartment today.

This type of lease allows the original property owner to determine both a beginning and ending date for the tenancy to take place. It is not necessary for a landowner to send out any sort of vacate-notice once the term is up as a result. The date the tenant is required to move out of the leased premises simply becomes the ending date. Tenants in these lease types have the added protection of knowing their lease cannot be terminated before the specific ending date unless it is agreed to in advance by both parties. Tenants can read through all of the landowner’s rights and obligations within the lease documentation itself.

The rights of possession and use are what are guaranteed by a leasehold estates, but the right of actual ownership belongs to the property’s original owner alone. The most common type of leasehold estate remains the estate for years, but there are three other options to consider. A lease that dictates an automatic renewal of the lease at a specific date, usually from month-to-month, is considered a periodic estate. The estate at will is yet another example, and this lease does not dictate a fixed time period at all. The lease term can endure as long as both parties are still in agreement that they want it to last. Lastly, there is a leasehold estate known as a tenancy at sufferance, created when a tenant remains after the expiration of the lease. When determining whether you want to lease your land to a tenant, you as a landowner may very well consider all of these leasehold options (with the exception of the tenancy at sufferance, of course!).

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