Liferent, or life-rent, in

Scots law Scots law () is the List of country legal systems, legal system of Scotland. It is a hybrid or mixed legal system containing Civil law (legal system), civil law and common law elements, that traces its roots to a number of different histori ...

is the right to receive for life the benefits of a property or other asset without the right to dispose of the property or the asset. Where the property is held in

fee simple In English law, a fee simple or fee simple absolute is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. A "fee" is a vested, inheritable, present possessory interest in land. A "fee simple" is real property held without limit of time (i.e., pe ...

, the owner is termed the fiar. (This is unrelated to '' Fiars Prices'', another term in Scots law.) For some acts relating to the property, the consent of both liferenter and fiar may be required by law.

Examples

* If a man held a liferent on

arable land Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of a ...

with a

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

, he could, for the rest of his life, live in the house and cultivate the land, keeping the income for himself. He could not transfer the land or house to another person. *A liferent might be set by law (as when someone died, it would apply to the surviving spouse); or it might be set as a private arrangement between individuals.

References

Scots law legal terminology Scots property law Real property law Land tenure Agriculture in Scotland Housing in Scotland {{Scotland-law-stub