Jasmine Directory

A lease is a broad term for a rental agreement where the owner of a certain asset, such as a vehicle, a building or a radio frequency allows others to use it with an associated fee. This agreement can be between two people, a person and a business, or multiple businesses. A Leasing Service is a business that provides leases for various assets.

Some of the various services that a leasing service may rent out include apartments, commercial buildings, heavy machinery, personal vehicles, computer hardware and even intangible assets like software, money or cell frequencies. Whether the asset is tangible or not doesn't matter, as long as it has an owner who is willing to rent it out to other people or businesses.

The goal of a lease is to profit off owned assets. Leasing is an alternative to outright purchasing the asset. Businesses often lease equipment they only need temporarily. Many also lease the space in which they are established, so if the business needs to move or shut down, there are no physical assets to deal with. Some leasing services simply rent out their available assets repeatedly until they are no longer relevant. Others offer lease to own programs. For example, an auto dealership may lease a vehicle to a person. When that person has made enough payments on the lease, the vehicle ownership transfers.

Leasing services can be broad or narrow, depending on the business. Large leasing services may offer everything from vehicles to tools to hardware to software. Smaller leasing agencies may focus on one particular asset, such as automobiles, tools or specific types of equipment. A property owner leasing homes is a narrow variation of a leasing service.

A company such as Rent-a-Center may offer a variety of household goods for rental, as an example of a mid-range leasing service. A wide-range leasing service is the same, on a much larger scale.