tenancy

American  

[ten-uhn-see] / ˈtɛn ən si /

noun

• tenancies
  plural

1. a holding, as of lands, by any kind of title; occupancy of land, a house, or the like, under a lease or on payment of rent; tenure.

2. the period of a tenant's occupancy.

3. occupancy or enjoyment of a position, post, situation, etc..

   her tenancy as professor of history at the state university.

4. Archaic. a piece of land held by a tenant; holding.

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tenancy British  

/ ˈtɛnənsɪ /

noun

1. the temporary possession or holding by a tenant of lands or property owned by another

2. the period of holding or occupying such property

3. the period of holding office, a position, etc

4. property held or occupied by a tenant

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• tenancies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of tenancy

First recorded in 1570–80; ten(ant) + -ancy; compare Medieval Latin tenantia, variant of tenentia

Explanation

Tenancy is the act of living somewhere, especially in a house, building, or apartment. You could say, for example, that your tenancy in the little white farmhouse lasted for six years, until you moved to the city. The noun tenancy means a period of living in a certain place or having a business in a specific building. If you give up your tenancy, you move to a new place, and if your tenancy ends earlier than you expected, you may owe your landlord some money. The word tenancy is closely related to tenant, with its earliest meaning of "one who holds land," from a Latin root — tenere, "to keep" or "to hold."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tenancy tenancies

Before making anything permanent, check what your tenancy agreement allows.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

But if she dies before he does, their joint property would go to him under the current joint tenancy with right of survivorship.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026

City Council and looks forward to seeing what the candidate could do as mayor, especially for tenancy rights.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026

Police say breaching a CPN is a criminal offence with a wide range of consequences, including significant court fines and potentially losing a tenancy.

From BBC ● May 7, 2026

In all the years of our tenancy we never saw the Zemindar who owned our land.

From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya

These rules apply to both fixed-term leases and month-to-month tenancies.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 24, 2026

Joint tenancies, living trusts, life estates and transfer-on-death deeds are no longer necessarily protected from recovery, depending on the circumstances.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 10, 2026

Also, with anchor customer Vodafone Idea possibly raising funds to expand 4G capacity and roll out 4G and 5G networks, this would add new tenancies to Indus Towers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026

However, landlords will only be able to request one month's rent in advance to secure a tenancy - or 28 days' rent for tenancies with rental periods of less than one month.

From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026

These have unfortunately been somewhat knocked about during successive tenancies, but clearly show that the house was one of considerable importance in past times.

From The Strand District The Fascination of London by Sir Walter Besant