Meaning & use
tenant at will
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountablelegallaw
A person allowed to occupy someone else's property with the owner's permission but with no fixed end date or lease.
Grammar: Countable: say a tenant at will or tenants at will; the plural changes only the first word.
Patterns
- be a tenant at will
- become a tenant at will
- a tenant at will of something
After the lease expired, she stayed on as a tenant at will.
The owner can end the arrangement at any time because he is a tenant at will.
nounsingularlegallaw
A legal arrangement in which someone may use land or a building indefinitely until either side decides to stop.
Grammar: Usually singular and used with the: the tenancy is called a tenancy at will, but people often shorten it to tenant at will.
Patterns
- hold something as a tenant at will
- an agreement as tenant at will
The family farm has been held as a tenant at will since the 1980s.
Their occupation of the flat is only as tenant at will, so it can end quickly.
Word forms
| plural | tenants at will |
|---|
Common combinations
- a tenant at will agreement
- We signed a tenant at will agreement instead of a yearly lease.
- hold property as a tenant at will
- He holds the land as a tenant at will after the sale fell through.
- terminate a tenant at will
- The landlord can terminate a tenant at will with proper notice.
- remain as a tenant at will
- She remained as a tenant at will while looking for a new place.
Synonyms and how they differ
- licensee
- A licensee has permission to be on the property but usually no exclusive right to occupy it, so it is broader than tenant at will.
- squatter
- A squatter occupies property without permission, while a tenant at will has the owner's consent.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: tenant at will or tenant at sufferance?
tenant at will vs tenant at sufferance
A tenant at sufferance stays on after a lease ends without the owner's permission, whereas a tenant at will has permission from the start.
Practice
Which sentence uses "tenant at will" correctly?
Choose one answer.
A tenant at will has permission to stay with no fixed term, so the arrangement can end at any time. Option 2 describes a fixed lease, option 3 describes ownership, and option 4 is not part of the legal meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tenant at will”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.