Renting is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good or property owned by another person or company. The owner of the property may be referred to as the lessor and the party paying to use the property as the lessee or renter. There is typically an implied, explicit, or written rental agreement or contract involved to specify the terms of the rental. Examples include:

• Renting real estate for the purpose of Housing tenure (where the lessee rents a residence to live in), parking a vehicle(s), storage, business, agricultural, institutional, or government use, or other reasons. When renting real estate, the person(s) or party who lives in or occupies the real estate is often called a tenant, paying rent to the owner of the property, often called a landlord. The real estate rented may be all or part of almost any real estate, such as an apartment, house, building, business office(s) or suite, land, farm, or merely an inside or outside space to park a vehicle, or store things. The rental agreement for real estate is often called a lease.
• The renting of motion pictures on VHS or DVD, of audio CDs, of computer programs on CD-ROM.
• Renting transport equipment, such as an automobile, boat, or a bicycle.
• Renting somewhat specialized tools, such as a chainsaw, laptop or something more substantial, such as a forklift.
• Renting a beach chair and umbrella.

In various degrees, renting can involve buying services for various amounts of time, such as staying in a hotel, using a computer in an Internet cafe, or riding in a taxicab (some forms of English use the term "hiring" for this activity).