Reference
Property management terms: a plain-English glossary
Published · Hovora
Property management collects jargon from law, finance, insurance and construction. These are the terms that come up most often for someone who owns a few places, in plain language.
Tenancy and letting
- Lease / tenancy agreement
- The contract setting out who may occupy the property, for how long, at what rent, and on what conditions.
- Break clause
- A term letting either side end the agreement early, usually with notice and on a specific date.
- Holdover
- A tenant staying on after the agreement ends. What happens next depends heavily on local law.
- Deposit protection
- A requirement in many jurisdictions to hold a tenant’s deposit in a designated scheme rather than in your own account.
- Void period
- Time between tenancies when the property earns nothing but still costs money.
Money
- Gross yield
- Annual rent divided by the property value, before any costs. Useful for comparison, misleading on its own.
- Net yield
- The same calculation after running costs. Closer to what you actually earn.
- Capital expenditure
- Money spent improving the property rather than maintaining it — a new kitchen rather than a repaired tap.
- Operating expense
- The recurring cost of running the property: insurance, utilities, management, routine maintenance.
- Service charge
- A contribution to shared costs in a building — common areas, lifts, building insurance.
Building and maintenance
- Planned maintenance
- Work scheduled in advance because it is known to be needed. Cheaper than the alternative.
- Reactive maintenance
- Work done because something broke. Always more expensive and always at a worse moment.
- Snagging
- The list of small defects found on inspection, usually after building work or before a new tenancy.
- Dilapidations
- Claims about the condition a property was left in relative to what the agreement required.
Ownership
- Freehold
- Ownership of the property and the land it sits on, without a time limit.
- Leasehold
- The right to occupy for a fixed term, with the land owned by someone else. Common for apartments in some countries.
- Strata / condominium
- Individual ownership of a unit with shared ownership of common areas, governed by a body corporate.
These terms carry different legal meanings in different countries, and some do not exist at all outside particular systems. Treat these as plain-language explanations, not legal definitions.