1. A payment made for the use of land or buildings. If land is productive purely on account of its natural features or its location, rent is a pure surplus accruing to the owner, who contributes no inputs into creating it. The rent on buildings, or on land which has been improved, for example by drainage, is often termed quasi-rent, as it is partly rent and partly payment for the services of the capital invested in buildings or improvements. Payment for the hire of consumer durables or productive equipment is referred to as rental payments. Rent of ability describes payments for the work of people with exceptional and scarce talents, such as artists or footballers, whose fees often exceed what they could earn in other occupations combined with a normal rate of return on the cost of special training needed for their professions.

2. A general term for payment in excess of opportunity cost. Rent can be created by monopoly power, by legislation, or by network externalities. See also economic rent.