peppercorn rent
- noun
- Jargon
:
renta simbólica
- The lease was granted for a peppercorn rent to help the community center stay open.
Examples
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Many historical buildings are preserved by charging a peppercorn rent to responsible tenants.
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We pay only a peppercorn rent for the use of the premises, thanks to the local council.
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The landlord agreed to a peppercorn rent for the first year.
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Many agreements include a peppercorn rent clause.
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The university offered the space for a peppercorn rent to encourage student organizations to host events.
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They signed the lease for the old warehouse at a peppercorn rent in exchange for agreeing to preserve its historic features.
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In the contract, it stated that the tenant would pay a peppercorn rent of just one dollar a year to maintain the property.
How Much
Surface Forms
Morphology
peppercorn + rent
The sense 'an extremely small or nominal rent' is directly derivable from combining 'peppercorn' (a very small, single spice berry) with 'rent' (payment for use of property): the image of a rent the size/value of a peppercorn conveys a trivially small payment. While there is a legal/idiomatic nuance (used to satisfy contract formalities), a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the basic meaning 'very small/nominal rent'.
Etymology
The noun peppercorn rent comes from an old practice of charging a single peppercorn as the rent, just a tiny payment used to make a lease official. That's why the phrase now means 'an extremely small or nominal rent'.