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absentee landlord

American  

noun

  1. a landlord who owns but is not resident in a property.


absentee landlord British  

noun

  1. a landlord who does not live in or near a property from which he draws an income

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The idea of evictions and lack of access to housing is particularly resonant, Mr. Doyle said, because of Ireland’s centuries under British rule, during which the callous absentee landlord became a byword for oppression.

From New York Times • Jan. 15, 2024

Critics have described him as an absentee landlord, but he also became an accidental landlord.

From BBC • Oct. 3, 2023

City officials even went to the trouble of serving an absentee landlord in Israel.

From Washington Times • Feb. 6, 2021

Some absentee landlord still hasn’t removed a mattress dumped in front of a burned-out townhouse on Hebron Avenue.

From Washington Post • Feb. 13, 2020

This absentee landlord, for whom it is estimated not less than 100,000 men, women and children directly toil, in the form of paying him rent, has surrounded himself in England with a lofty feudal exclusiveness.

From History of the Great American Fortunes, Vol. I Conditions in Settlement and Colonial Times by Gustavus, Myers