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

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Etymology

Origin of tenancy

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

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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

Otherwise, he fears, "within six months, they're going to be failing their tenancy and back on the streets again".

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

They’re right to sort this out now: Neither a last will and testament nor joint tenancy with right of survivorship will necessarily be the final word.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 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

Using tenancy documents given to us by Satchit Warade, the BBC traced an email address linked to the person listed as the landlord, Edward Robinson, who appeared to have bought the property in March 2025.

From BBC ● Jun. 9, 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

Average rental costs for new tenancies were up 2.6% in July compared with a year earlier, according to property website Zoopla.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

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

The lord's demesne acted as a centre, round which coloni clustered—cultivators who did not divide their tenancies because they did not own them.

From Villainage in England Essays in English Mediaeval History by Paul Vinogradoff

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