Liferent, or life-rent, in Scots law 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.[1][2][3] Where the property is held in fee simple, the owner is termed the fiar.[4] (This is unrelated to Fiars Prices, another term in Scots law.[4]) 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 with a house, 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.