A lease is a contract where the owner of an asset (the lessor) allows someone else (the lessee) to use it for a set period in exchange for regular payments.
Common examples include office space leases, vehicle leases, and equipment leases. Instead of buying a $50,000 machine outright, a company might lease it for $1,000/month — preserving cash for other needs.
In accounting, leases are categorized as operating leases (treated like rent) or finance/capital leases (treated like owning the asset with debt). Recent standards (IFRS 16) require most leases to appear on the balance sheet.