What is a lease agreement?

A lease agreement is fundamentally a contract that specifies the terms under which one party, known as the lessee or tenant, rents property from another party, known as the lessor or landlord. This document typically lays out essential details such as the duration of the lease, the amount of rent, payment due dates, security deposits, maintenance responsibilities, and other obligations of both parties regarding the use and management of the property.

In contrast, a temporary ownership document would imply that the parties involved have a form of ownership, which is not the case with a lease; the tenant only has the right to use the property under the terms of the lease agreement without ownership. A sales contract pertains to the transfer of ownership of property from seller to buyer and is entirely different from an agreement that only allows for rental use. Similarly, a memorandum of understanding is generally used for outlining general principles of cooperation between parties rather than the specific obligations and terms related to rental agreements. Thus, the definition of a lease agreement aligns perfectly with the description of a contract that outlines rental terms, making it the correct answer.