Quitrent

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A form of rent that is paid in a one-time payment, often in lieu of annual rent obligations, or a nominal fee for landholding privileges
2. It refers to a fixed amount paid to a landlord to exempt oneself from regular rent payments, typically established by historical land grants
3. This term describes a rent system where a landholder pays a predetermined sum instead of ongoing rent, often linked to feudal land tenures

Etymology: "Quitrent" is a compound of "quit" and "rent," and the two halves explain its meaning. In medieval England, a tenant often owed a lord a mix of labour services, produce and money. A quitrent was a fixed money payment that let the tenant be "quit" of those other obligations, or set free from them. The rent was fixed in amount, so the tenant knew exactly what was owed and could no longer be called on for work or goods in its place. The first element, "quit," is the same word as "quite" and "acquit," meaning to free, release or discharge someone from an obligation. Its sense of freedom from a debt is what gives the compound its meaning. "Rent," from Old French "rente," means a regular payment for the use of land, here the land held under the lord.