Lease and release is literally the

lease A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

(tenancy) of non-tenanted property by its owner followed by a release (relinquishment) of the landlord's interest in the property. This sequence of transactions was commonly used to transfer full

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

under

real property law Property law is the area of law that governs the various forms of ownership in real property (land) and personal property. Property refers to legally protected claims to resources, such as land and personal property, including intellectual prop ...

. ''Lease and release'' was a mode of conveyance of

freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple *Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England *Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice p ...

estates formerly common in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and in New York for

tax avoidance Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime in a single territory to one's own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law. A tax shelter is one type of tax avoidance, and tax havens are jurisdict ...

and speed. Between its parties it achieves the same outcome as a

deed In common law, a deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, affirms or confirms an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions, sealed. It is commonly associated with transferring ...

of grant/transfer/conveyance.

History

Lease and release was: "a species of conveyance, invented by Serjeant Moore, soon after the enactment of the

statute of uses The Statute of Uses (27 Hen 8 c 10 — enacted in 1536) was an Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Act of the Parliament of England that restricted the application of use (law), uses in English property law. The Statute ended the practi ...

. It is thus contrived; a

, in fact being a bargain and sale upon some pecuniary

consideration Consideration is a concept of English common law and is a necessity for simple contracts but not for special contracts (contracts by deed). The concept has been adopted by other common law jurisdictions. The court in ''Currie v Misa'' declared ...

for one year, is made by a

tenant Tenant may refer to: Real estate *Tenant, the holder of a leasehold estate in real estate *Tenant-in-chief, in feudal land law *Tenement (law), the holder of a legal interest in real estate *Tenant farmer *Anchor tenant, one of the larger stores ...

of the whole freehold alienation.html" ;"title="alienation_(property_law).html" ;"title="ith no fetter on alienation">alienation_(property_law).html"_;"title="ith_no_fetter_on_alienation_(property_law)">alienationto_the_ alienation">alienation_(property_law).html"_;"title="ith_no_fetter_on_alienation_(property_law)">alienationto_the_lessee">alienation_(property_law)">alienation">alienation_(property_law).html"_;"title="ith_no_fetter_on_alienation_(property_law)">alienationto_the_lessee_who_is_in_fact_the_ alienation">alienation_(property_law).html"_;"title="ith_no_fetter_on_alienation_(property_law)">alienationto_the_lessee">alienation_(property_law)">alienation">alienation_(property_law).html"_;"title="ith_no_fetter_on_alienation_(property_law)">alienationto_the_lessee_who_is_in_fact_the_buyer">bargainee_(buyer)._This,_without_any_enrollment,_makes_the_bargainor_stand_seised_to_the_use_of_the_bargainee,_and_vests_in_the_bargainee_the_use_of_the_term_for_one_year,_and_then_the_statute_immediately_annexes_the_possession._Being_thus_in_possession,_he_is_capable_of_receiving_a_release_of_the_freehold_and_

alienation">alienation_(property_law).html"_;"title="ith_no_fetter_on_alienation_(property_law)">alienationto_the_lessee">alienation_(property_law)">alienation">alienation_(property_law).html"_;"title="ith_no_fetter_on_alienation_(property_law)">alienationto_the_lessee_who_is_in_fact_the_buyer">bargainee_(buyer)._This,_without_any_enrollment,_makes_the_bargainor_stand_seised_to_the_use_of_the_bargainee,_and_vests_in_the_bargainee_the_use_of_the_term_for_one_year,_and_then_the_statute_immediately_annexes_the_possession._Being_thus_in_possession,_he_is_capable_of_receiving_a_release_of_the_freehold_and_reversion_(law)">reversion,_made_to_this_tenant_(bargainee)_in_Possession_(law).html" "title="reversion_(law).html" ;"title="buyer.html" ;"title="lessee.html" ;"title="alienation (property law)">alienation">alienation_(property_law).html" ;"title="ith no fetter on alienation (property law)">alienationto the lessee">alienation (property law)">alienation">alienation_(property_law).html" ;"title="ith no fetter on alienation (property law)">alienationto the lessee who is in fact the buyer">bargainee (buyer). This, without any enrollment, makes the bargainor stand seised to the use of the bargainee, and vests in the bargainee the use of the term for one year, and then the statute immediately annexes the possession. Being thus in possession, he is capable of receiving a release of the freehold and reversion (law)">reversion, made to this tenant (bargainee) in Possession (law)">possession Possession may refer to: Law * Dependent territory, an area of land over which another country exercises sovereignty, but which does not have the full right of participation in that country's governance * Drug possession, a crime * Ownership * ...

; and, accordingly, the next day a release is granted to him." This cites the New York common law treatise that "lease and release was the usual mode of conveyance in England (until) 1841 ... and in New York until 1788...." The original benefactor was Lord Norris, "to avoid the unpleasant notoriety of a

livery A livery is an identifying design, such as a uniform, ornament, symbol or insignia that designates ownership or affiliation, often found on an individual or vehicle. Livery will often have elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or ...

attornment Attornment (from French ''tourner'', "to turn"), in English real property law, is the acknowledgment of a new lord by the tenant on the alienation of land. Under the feudal system, the relations of landlord and tenant were to a certain extent r ...

." A "special form of grant called a release anused to convey a future interest eversionto someone who already has a current interest. (A later alternative name is

quitclaim Generally, a quitclaim is a formal renunciation of a legal claim against some other person, or of a right to land. A person who quitclaims renounces or relinquishes a claim to some legal right, or transfers a legal interest in land. Originally a c ...

.) This fact resulted in a very popular form of conveyance called a lease and release. Two agreements were required. First, a bargain (sale) contract was executed by the seller to convey a lease on the land...(Unlike an outright sale, short leases did not require enrollment in a public registry.) The seller then separately executed a release to grant to the buyer (who was now his tenant) the seller’s remaining interest. his transferstitle to the buyer, since he now owned both the current and future interests in the land." The ''lease and release'' was: "developed as another strategy to avoid public transfer of

seisin Seisin (or seizin) denotes the legal possession of a feudal fiefdom or fee, that is to say an estate in land. It was used in the form of "the son and heir of X has obtained seisin of his inheritance", and thus is effectively a term concerned with co ...

, in response to the limitations imposed by the Statute of Enrolments. Since uses (future leases in land) had been limited by the

Statute of Uses The Statute of Uses (27 Hen 8 c 10 — enacted in 1536) was an Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Act of the Parliament of England that restricted the application of use (law), uses in English property law. The Statute ended the practi ...

(and remain subject to disincentives in many jurisdictions), another instrument had to be found. That instrument was the lease for a year (lease for possession) followed on the following day by a release of the property, thus avoiding livery of seisin. The instrument thus consists of two parts: (i) a lease for one year on one day; (ii) a release on the following day. In the lease for a year, the consideration was nominal (usually 5s.) and the term of the lease one year. The release was executed the day after the lease, releasing the property to the 'lessee' in perpetuity; the full purchase price (consideration) is recited in the release; the release recites entionsthe lease of the previous day; the release is executed 'according to the statute for converting uses into possession' (the Statute of Uses)." In shorter form it has been described as: "the most common method of conveying freehold property from the later seventeenth century onwards, before the introduction of the modern conveyance in the late nineteenth century. The lease was granted for a year (sometimes six months), then on the following day the lessor released their right of ownership in return for the consideration." This was a wordy, sometimes two document, mode of conveyance of

estates, formerly common in

and in New York superseded by a simple

of grant/transfer.Online dictionary
citing Burrill, Warren's Blackstone, and the 1913 Webster's Dictionary.

History

References

See also