Overlet

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To grant a lease on a property already leased to someone else before the current lease period ends
2. Allows a tenant to rent out leased premises to another party during the remaining lease term
3. Permits subletting a rented property to an additional tenant while the original lease is still active

Etymology: The verb "let" in the sense of renting out a house or flat is a much older idea than it looks. It descends from Old English "lǣtan," meaning to allow or permit, so to let a property was originally to allow someone the use of it. Rental was thus framed as permission rather than sale. This is a different verb from the "let" meaning to hinder, as in "let" in tennis, which comes from a separate Old English word, "lettan." "Overlet" is a plain compound: the prefix "over-," here meaning something done in excess or beyond what is proper, attached to "let." The sense is that the same property has been rented out a second time while an existing lease is still running. Its exact date of entry into English is uncertain to me, but the formation is transparent, and it belongs to the legal and property vocabulary that developed around leasing in early modern England.