Business and Personal Finance Dictionary

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• LEASE
  
  A contract providing for the use of property in which one party (the owner, landlord, or lessor) allows another party (the tenant or lessee) to use the property in exchange for value given to the lessor. May cover either real or personal property. Long-term, noncancelable leases, called capital leases, must be carried on the lessee’s balance sheet as liabilities under GAAP. When they are recorded on the lessee’s balance sheet, they are said to be capitalized. Short-term, cancelable leases, sometimes called operating leases, do not have to be capitalized.
  
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