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See also:ENGLISH See also:LAW . (As to the See also:rent of apartments, &c., see LODGER AND LODGINGS.)—Rent is a certain and periodical See also:payment or service made or rendered by the See also:tenant of a corporeal See also:hereditament and issuing out of (the See also:property of) such hereditament. Its characteristics, therefore, are (r) certainty in amount; (2) periodicity in payment or rendering; (3) the fact that rent is yielded and is, therefore, said " to See also:lie in render," as distinguished from profits d prendre in See also:general, which are taken, and are, therefore, said to lie in prendre; (4) that it must issue out of (the profits of) a corporeal hereditament. A rent cannot be reserved out of incorporeal hereditaments such as advowsons (Co. Lilt. 47a, 142a). But rent may be reserved out of estates in reversion or See also:remainder (see REAL PROPERTY) which are not purely incorporeal. It is not essential that rent should consist in a payment of See also:money. Apart from the rendering of services, the delivery of hens, horses, See also:wheat; &c., may constitute a rent. But, at the See also:present See also:day, rent is generally a sum of money paid for the occupation of See also:land. It is important to See also:notice that this conception of rent was attained at a comparatively See also:late See also:period in the See also:history of the law. The earliest rent seems to have been a See also:form of See also:personal service, generally labour on land, and was fixed by See also:custom. The exaction of a competition or See also:rack rent beyond that limited by custom was, if one may See also:judge from the old Brehon law of See also:Ireland, due to the presence upon the land of strangers in See also:blood, probably at first outcasts from some other See also:group.' The strict feudal theory of rent admitted labour on the See also:lord's land as a See also:lower form, and See also:developed the military service due to the See also:crown or a lord as a higher form. Rent service is the See also:oldest and most dignified See also:kind of existing rent. It is the only one to which the See also:power of See also:distress attaches at See also:common law, giving the landlord a preferential right over other creditors exercisable without the intervention of judicial authority (see DISTRESS). The increasing importance of See also:socage See also:tenure, arising in See also:part from the convenience of paying a certain amount, whether in money or kind, rather than comparatively uncertain services, led to the See also:gradual See also:evolution of the See also:modern view of rent as a sum due by See also:contract between two See also:independent persons. At the same See also:time the See also:primitive feeling which regarded the position of landlord and tenant from a social rather than a commercial point of view is still of importance.
Rents, as they now exist in See also:England, are divided gasses into two See also:great classes—rent service and rent See also:charge. of Rents.
Rent Service.—A rent service is so called because by it a tenure by means of service is created between the landlord and the tenant. The service is now represented by fealty, and is nothing more than nominal. Rent service is said to be incident to the reversion—that is, a See also: See also See also:Vinogradoff, Villainage in England (See also:Oxford, 1892), pp. 181, 188, 215; The Growth of the See also:Manor (by the same author) (See also:London, 1905), pp. 230, 328; See also:Pollock and See also:Maitland, Hist. Eng. Law (See also:Cambridge, 1895), ii. 128-134. at common law to this form of rent. See also:Copyhold rents and rents reserved on See also:lease fall into this class. Rent Charge.—A rent charge is a grant of an See also:annual sum payable out of lands in which the grantor has an See also:estate. It may be in See also:fee, in tail, for life—the most common form—or for years. It must be created by See also:deed or will, and may be either at common law or under the See also:Statute of Uses (1536). The grantor has no reversion, and the grantee has at common law no power of distress, though such power may be given him by the See also:instrument creating the rent charge. The Statute of Uses (1536) gave a power of distress for a rent charge created under the statute. The See also:Conveyancing See also:Act 1881, § 44, has given a power of distress for a sum due on any rent charge which is twenty-one days in arrear. By § 45 a power of redemption of certain perpetual rents in the nature of rent charges is given to the owner of the land out of which the rent issues. Rent charges granted since See also:April 26th, 1855, otherwise than by See also:marriage See also:settlement or will for a See also:life or lives or for any estate determinable on a life or lives must, in See also:order to bind lands against purchasers, mortgagees or creditors, be registered in the Land Registry in See also:Lincoln's See also:Inn See also:Fields (Judgments Act 18J5 and Land Charges Act 1900). In certain other cases it is also necessary to See also:register rent charges, for instance, under the Improvement of Land Act 1864 and the Land See also:Transfer Acts 1875 and 1897. Rent charges are barred by non-payment or non-See also:acknowledgment for twelve years. The period of See also:limitation for the arrears of such rent is six years. Various Forms of Rent Charge.—Forms of rent charge of See also:special See also:interest are tithe rent charge (see See also:TITHES), and the rent charges formerly used for the purpose of creating " See also:faggot votes." The See also:device was adopted of creating See also:parliamentary voters by splitting up See also:freehold interests into a number of rent-charges of the annual value of 4os., so as to satisfy the freeholders' See also:franchise. But such rent charges are now rendered ineffective by the See also:Representation of the See also:People Act 1884, § 4, which enacts (subject to a saving for existing rights and an exception in favour of owners of tithe rent charge) that a See also:man shall not be entitled to be registered as a voter in respect of the ownership of any rent charge. A rent charge reserved without power of distress is termed a rent-seek (reditus siccus) or " dry rent," from the See also:absence of the power of distress. But, as power of distress for rents-seck was given by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1736, the legal effect of such rents has been since the act the same as that of a rent charge. Other Varieties of Rent. Rents of See also:assize or Quit rents are a relic of the old customary rents. They are presumed to have been established by usage, and cannot be increased or diminished. A Quit rent (quietus reditus) is a yearly payment made from time immemorial by freeholders or copyholders of a manor to the lord. The See also:term implies that the tenant thereby becomes See also:free and quit from all other services. Owing to the See also:change in the value of money, these rents are now of little value. Under the Conveyancing Act 1881 (s. 45) they may be compulsorily redeemed by the freeholI tenant; and the Copyhold Act 1894 provides similarly for their extinction in the See also:case of manors. Quit rents, like See also:ordinary rent charges, are barred by non-payment, or non-acknowledgment, for twelve years. Those paid by freeholders are called See also:chief rents. Fee See also:farm rents are rents reserved on grants in fee. According to some authorities, they must be at least one-See also:fourth of the value of the lands. They, like quit rents, now occur only in manors, unless existing before the Statute of See also:Quin Emptores or created by the crown (see REAL PROPERTY). A rent which is See also:equivalent or nearly equivalent in amount to the full annual value of the land is a rack rent. A rent which falls appreciably See also:short of a rack rent is usually styled a ground rent (q.v.). It is generally reserved on land which the lessee agrees to See also:cover with buildings, and is calculated on the value of the land, though the buildings to be erected increase the See also:security for the rent and revert to the lessor at the end of the term. A dead rent is a fixed annual sum paid by a person working a mine or See also:quarry, in addition to royalties varying according to the amount of minerals taken.
The See also:object of a dead rent is twofold—first, to provide a specified income on which the lessor can rely; secondly (and this is the more important See also:reason), as a security that the mine will be worked, and worked with reasonable rapidity. Rents in kind still exist to a limited extent; thus the See also:corporation of London is tenant of some lands in See also:Shropshire by payment to the crown of an annualrent of a fagot. All peppercorn, or nominal, rents seem to fall under this See also:head.' The object of the peppercorn rent is to secure the acknowledgment by the tenant of the landlord's right. In modern See also:building leases a peppercorn rent is sometimes reserved as the rent for the first few years. Services rendered in lieu of payment by tenants in See also:grand and See also:petit See also:serjeanty may also be regarded as examples of rents in kind. Grand serjeanty is a form of tenure in See also:chivalry under which the See also: Labour rents are represented by those cases, not unfrequent in agricultural leases, where the tenant is See also:bound to render the landlord a certain amount of team See also:work or other labour as a part of his rent. It was held in the See also:court of See also:queen's See also:bench in 1845 that tenants who occupied houses on the terms of sweeping the See also:parish See also: The payment is, therefore, generally speaking, a See also:defence to an See also:action by the landlord or his heirs. But if the landlord mortgages his reversion, either before or after the advance, the assignee will, by giving notice to the tenant, before the proper rent-day, to pay rent to him, become entitled to the rent then falling due. Payment by See also:cheque is conditional payment only, and if the cheque is dishonoured the See also:original obligation revives. Where a cheque in payment of rent is lost in the course of transmission through the See also:post, the loss falls on the tenant, unless the landlord has expressly or impliedly authorized it to be forwarded in that way: and the landlord's consent to take the risk of such trans-See also:mission will not be inferred from the fact that payments were ordinarily made in this manner in the dealings between the parties. A tenant may deduct from his rent (i) the " land-lord's property tax " (on the annual value of the premises for income tax purposes), which is paid by the tenant, if the statute imposing the tax authorizes the See also:deduction (which should be made from the rent next due after the payment); (ii) taxes or rates which the landlord had undertaken to pay but had not paid, payment having thereupon been made by the tenant; (iii) payments made by the tenant which ought to have been made by the landlord, e.g. rent due to a See also:superior landlord; (iv) See also:compensation under the Agricultural Holdings Acts 1883-1goo. Remedies for Non-payment of Rent.—A landlord's See also:main remedy for non-payment of rent is distress (See also:Lat. distringere, to draw asunder, detain, occupy), i.e. the right to seize all goods found upon the demised premises, whether those of the tenant or of a stranger, except goods specially privileged, and to detain and, if need be, to sell them, in See also:satisfaction of his claim. The requisites of a valid distress are these: (a) There must be " a certain and proper rent," i.e. rent due in respect of an actual tenancy of corporeal hereditaments: (b) the rent must be in arrear; (c) there must be a reversion in the person distraining; and (d) there must be goods on the premises liable to be distrained. i When peppercorn rents were instituted, in the See also:middle ages, they were not, however, nominal, the cost of spices being then very great. A peppercorn rent, generally an obligation to pay I lb of See also:pepper at the usual rent days, constituted a substantial See also:impost even as late as the 18th See also:century. All personal chattels are distrainable with the following exceptions: (i) Goods absolutely privileged—(a) See also:fixtures (q.v.); (b) goods sent to the tenant in the way of See also:trade; (c) things which cannot be restored, e.g. See also:meat and See also:milk; growing See also:corn and corn in sheaves formerly See also:fell within this See also:category, but the Distress for Rent Act 1737 (s. 8) abolished this exemption in the case of the former, and a statute of 1690 abolished it'in that of the latter; (d) things in actual use, e.g. a See also:horse while it is See also:drawing a See also:cart; (e) animals ferae naturae (See also:dogs and tame See also:deer or deer in an enclosed See also:park may be distrained); (f) things in the custody of the law, e.g. in the See also:possession of a See also:sheriff under an See also:execution (q.v.) ; (g) straying See also:cattle; (h) in the case of agricultural holdings under the Agricultural Holdings Acts 1883–1900 hired agricultural machinery and breeding stock; (i) the wearing See also:apparel and "bedding "—a term which includes bedstead "—of tenant and his See also:family, and the tools and implements of his trade to the value of f5 (Law of Distress See also:Amendment Act 1888); (j) the goods of ambassadors and their suites (See also:Diplomatic Privileges Act 1708). (ii) Goods conditionally privileged, i.e. privileged if there are sufficient goods of other kinds on the premises to satisfy the distress—(a) implements of trade not in actual use; (b) beasts of the plough and See also:sheep; (c) agisted cattle; (d) growing crops sold under an execution (Landlord and Tenant Act 1851, s. 2); (e) lodgers' goods. The Lodgers' Goods See also:Protection Act 1871 provides that where a lodger's goods have been seized by the superior landlord the lodger may serve him with a notice stating that the intermediate landlord had no interest in the property seized, but that it is the property, or in the lawful possession, of the lodger, and setting forth the amount of the rent due by the lodger to his immediate landlord. On payment or See also:tender of such rent the landlord cannot proceed with the distress against the goods in question. In general, a landlord cannot distrain except upon the premises demised, but he has a statutory right to follow things clandestinely or fraudulently removed from the premises within 30 days after their removal, unless they have been in the meantime sold See also:bona fide and for valuable See also:consideration. A landlord may, by statute (Landlord and Tenant Act 17o9, s. 6), distrain within six months after the determination of the lease provided that the tenant has remained in possession. A distress must be made in the daytime, i.e. not before sunrise or after sunset. Six years' arrears of rent only are recoverable by distress (Real Property Limitation Act 1833, S. 12): the Real Property Limitation Act 1874 (s. 1), which bars distress for rent after twelve years, applies to rent-charges and not to rent under a lease, and the six years' arrears may be recovered in spite of the See also:lapse of time. In the case of agricultural tenancies falling within the Agricultural Holdings Acts 1883-19oo, the right of distress is confined to one See also:year's arrears of rent. Where the tenant is bankrupt, a distress levied after the See also:bankruptcy is limited to six months' rent accrued due See also:prior to the date of See also:adjudication; see Bankruptcy Act 1883 (s. 42) and 1890 (s. 28). Where a See also:company is being See also:wound up, the landlord may not distrain without the leave of the court. An See also:extension of time is allowed in cases where in the ordinary course of dealing between landlord and tenant the payment of rent has been allowed to be deferred for a quarter or See also:half year after the rent became legally due (act of 1883, s. 4). The landlord may distrain in person or may employ a certificated See also:bailiff (Law of Distress Amendment Act 1888, s. 7). An uncertificated person levying a distress is liable to a See also:fine of Do, without See also:prejudice to his See also:civil liability (Law of Distress Amendment Act 1895, S. 2). The seizure must not be excessive (statute of See also: 3, on impounding of corn, See also:straw, See also:hay; the Distress for Rent Act 1737, s. 8, on impounding of growing crops; and the statute of 1554 and the See also:Cruelty to Animals Act 1849, s. 5, on impounding of cattle) ; and the landlord has a statutory power of See also:sale (statute of 169o, s. 5). It is illegal to proceed with a distress if the tenant tenders the rent before the impounding; and a tenant has, by statute (169o, c. 5), five clear days' See also:grace, excluding the date of seizure, between impounding and sale. On the written See also:request of the tenant, this period will be extended to fifteen days (Law of Distress Amendment Act 1888, s. 6). A tenant may, before sale, recover goods illegally distrained by an action of See also:replevin (L. Lat. replegiare, to redeem a thing taken by another). Where no rent was due to the distrainer the tenant may recover by action See also:double the value of the goods sold (statute 169o, s. 5) ; and See also:summary remedies for the recovery of the property have been created by modern enactments (Law of Distress Amendment Act 1895, s. 4, on distress of privileged goods; Agricultural Holdings Act 1883, s. 46). Where rent was due, but the distress was Irregular, the tenant can only recover special damage (Distress for Rent Act 1737, S. 19). Goods taken under an execution (q.v.) are not removable till one year's rent has been paid to the landlord (Landlord and Tenant Act 1709). The landlord has, besides distress, his ordinary remedy by action. In addition, special statutory remedies are given in the case of tenantsholding over after the expiration of their tenancy. By the Distress for Rent Act 1737 any tenant giving notice to quit, and holding over, is liable to pay double rent for such time as he continues in possession (see further under See also:EJECTMENT). Ireland.—The main See also:differences between Irish and English law have been caused by legislation (see EJECTMENT; LAND-LORD AND TENANT). See also:Scotland.—Rent is properly the payment made by tenant to landlord for the use of lands held under lease (see LANDLORD AND TENANT). In agricultural tenancies the legal terms for the payment of rent are at See also:Whitsunday after the See also:crop has been shown, and at Martinmas after it has been reaped. But a landlord and tenant may substitute conventional terms of payment, either anticipating (fore, or forehand rent) or postponing (back, or backhand rent) the legal term. The rent paid by See also:vassal to superior is called See also:feu-See also:duty (see FEU). Its nearest English equivalent is the fee farm rent. The remedy of distress does not exist in Scots law. Rents are recovered (i) by summary See also:diligence, proceeding on a clause, in the lease, of consent to See also:registration for execution; (ii) by an ordinary petitory action; (iii) by an action of " maills and duties " (the rents of an estate in money or See also:grain: " maills " was a See also:coin at one time-current in Scotland) in the Sheriff Court or the Court of Session; and (iv) in non-agricultural tenancies by See also:procedure under the right of See also:hypothec, where that still exists; the right of hypothec over land exceeding 2 acres in extent let for See also:agriculture or pasture was abolished as from See also:November 11, 1881 (see HYPOTHEC); (v) by action of removing (see EJECTMENT). Arrears of rent prescribe in five years from the time of the tenant's removal from the land. Labour or service rents were at one time very frequent in See also:Scot-land. The events of 1715 and 1745 showed the vast See also:influence over the tenantry that the great proprietors acquired by such means. Accordingly acts of 1716 and 1746 provided for the See also:commutation of services into money rents. Such services may still be created by agreement, subject to the summary power of commutation by the sheriff given by the Conveyancing Act 1874 (§§ 20, 21). " In the more remote parts of Scotland it is understood that there still exist customary returns in produce of various kinds, which being regulated by the usage of the See also:district or of the See also:barony or estate cannot be comprehenced under any general See also:rule " (See also:Hunter, Landlord and Tenant, ii. 298). Up to 1848 or 1850 there existed in Scot-land " steelbow " leases—analogous to the chetel de fer of See also:French law (see LANDLORD AND TENANT)—by which the landlord stocked the farm with corn, cattle, implements, &c., the tenant returning similar articles at the expiration of his tenancy and paying in addition to the ordinary rent a steelbow rent of 5 % on the value of the stock. As to the rent of apartments, &c., see LODGER AND LODGINGS. See also:United States.—The law is in general accordance with that of England. The tendency of modern See also:state legislation is unfavourable to the continuance of distress as a remedy. In the New England states, See also:attachment on mesne See also:process has, to a large extent, superseded it. In New See also:York and See also:Missouri it has been abolished by statute; in See also:Mississippi the landlord has a claim for one year's rent on goods seized under an execution and a See also:lien on the growing crop. In See also:Ohio, See also:Tennessee and See also:Alabama it is not recognized, but in Ohio the landlord has a See also:share in the growing crops in preference to the execution creditor. The legislatures of nearly all the states agree with the law of England as to the exemption from distress of See also:household goods, wearing apparel, &c. (see See also:Dillon's Laws and See also:Jurisprudence of England and See also:America, pp. 36o, 361; also See also:HOMESTEAD). As to the rent of apartments, &c., see LODGER AND LODGINGS. Fee farm rents exist in some states, like See also:Pennsylvania, which have not adopted the statute of Quia Emptores as a part of their common law (See also:Washburn's Real Property, ii. 252). Other Laws.—Under the French See also:Code Civil (See also:art. 2102) the land-lord is a privileged creditor for his rent. If the lease is by See also:authentic act, or under private See also:signature for a fixed term, he has a right over the year's See also:harvest and produce, the See also:furniture of the house and everything employed to keep it up, and (if a farm) to work it, in order to satisfy all rent due up to the end of the term. If the lease is not ,by authentic act nor for a specified term, the landlord's claim is limited to the current year and the year next following (see law of 12th Feb. 1872). The goods of a sub-lessee are protected: and goods bailed or deposited with the tenant are in general not liable to be seized. The French law is in force in See also:Mauritius, and has been reproduced in substance in the Civil Codes of See also:Quebec (arts. 2005 et seq.) and St See also:Lucia (arts. 1888 et seq.). There are analogous provisions in the See also:Spanish Civil Code (art. 1922). The subject of privileges and hypothecs is regulated in See also:Belgium by a special law of the 16th Dec. 1851; and in See also:Germany by ss. 1 113 et seq. of the Civil Code. The law of See also:British See also:India as to rent (Transfer and Property Act 1882) and distress (cf., e.g., Act 15 of 1882) is similar to English law. The British dominions generally tend in the same direction. See, e.g., New See also:South See also:Wales (the consolidating Landlord and Tenant Act 1899); See also:Newfoundland (Act 4 of 1899); See also:Ontario (Act I of 1902, s. 22, giving a tenant five days for tender of rent and expenses after distress) ; See also:Jamaica (Law 17 of 1900, certification of landlord's bailiffs) ; See also:Queensland (Act 15 of 1904).
AuT1-IoRrrIEs.–English Law: See also:Woodfall, Landlord and Tenant (18th ed., London, 1907) ; Foa, Landlord and Tenant (4th ed., London, 1907); See also:Fawcett, Landlord and Tenant (3rd ed., London, 1905); See also: (A. W. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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