Meaning & use
former tenant
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
a person who rented a property in the past but no longer does
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a former tenant' or 'former tenants'.
Patterns
- a former tenant of something
- the former tenant
The landlord is still trying to contact the former tenant about the deposit.
Former tenants sometimes leave furniture behind when they move out.
A former tenant of the apartment stopped by to pick up some mail.
Word forms
| plural | former tenants |
|---|
Common combinations
- former tenant of
- She was a former tenant of the building before it was sold.
- contact a former tenant
- The agency tried to contact a former tenant for a reference.
- former tenant's deposit
- The former tenant's deposit was returned after the inspection.
- a former tenant who
- A former tenant who lived there for years recommended the area.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ex-tenant
- More informal and often used in casual speech; 'former tenant' is more neutral and common in written or official contexts.
- previous occupant
- Broader, because it can refer to an owner or someone who lived there without renting; 'former tenant' specifically means someone who rented.
Word family
Commonly confused: former tenant or former residence?
former tenant vs former residence
A 'former residence' is a place where someone lived before; a 'former tenant' is a person who rented before. The words refer to different things.
Practice
The landlord asked the _____ to return the keys before the end of the month.
Choose one answer.
'Former tenant' fits because the sentence needs a singular person as the object. 'Former tenancy' is wrong because it means the legal agreement, not the person. 'Former tenant's' needs a following noun. 'Former tenants' is plural and would need a plural verb or context.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “former tenant”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.