What is the difference between License and Lease?

A lease and license may sometimes be interchanged because of their similarities in their spelling but these are two different things. The license will serve as proof that the person or the corporation can control something. For example, businesses will be allowed to operate because they have the proper license.

The lease means that something is being rented out. For example, people would need to lease space somewhere so that they can operate their business properly. Lease and license are both needed by people who would like to own and operate businesses but it is important that people will know what they mean to avoid possible confusion in the future.

A lease and a license are two different legal terms to gain ownership of a specific property. The two terms are most times used for each other, that is, they are often used interchangeably. This is not totally okay, because there are some differences between a lease and a license. Under lease agreement, the tenant still has an exclusive right over the property, while under license agreement, the real and legal owner of the property will continue to have power and control over the property, this means, the tenant does not have a total control on the property.

A lease agreement gives the tenant the opportunity to use the property as rent to a third party since he has an exclusive control over the property, while a tenant under license agreement cannot give out property to a third party. A license agreement can be easily terminated by a licensor, but this cannot happen when it comes to a lease agreement.