[General] I want to rent a flat

[suniljain]

1) I want to rent a flat.
2) I want a flat on rent.


Are both the sentences correct and do they convey the same meaning?

 

[Matthew Wai]

I would use 'for rent' instead of 'on rent', but I am not a teacher.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Is it natural to say 'I am looking for a flat for rent'?

 

[Rover_KE]

No. '...to rent'.

 

[gurpreetgill4u]

I have a question about the question in this thread.
To me it sounds more like,I want a flat that I can buy with the payment I have received as rent.
Do you think that is one way to look at it ?

 

[Matthew Wai]

I don't think so, but I am not a teacher.

BTW, the 'Thanks' and 'Like' buttons have just disappeared at my end. How about yours?

 

[Eckaslike]

I have a question about the question in this thread.
To me it sounds more like,I want a flat that I can buy with the payment I have received as rent.
Do you think that is one way to look at it ?

This definition under the word (A2 Let verb (Rent) http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/let_1 )
implies that in American English it might have the meaning you are thinking of.

In BrE we distinguish between the two meanings by using "rent" to mean you want to hire somewhere and pay money to do so, and the word "let" where you own somewhere and you wish to get money in from hiring out your property.

I want to rent a flat = I want to pay someone money to lease somewhere to live.
I want to let a flat = I own a flat, and I want to lease it out to someone who will pay me to live there. (in BrE)

But as I said, the dictionary shows that AmE uses "rent" in the way you are thinking.

One of our American English speaking members can let you know whether this is the case, and confirm how it works for them.

 

[Eckaslike]

I don't think so, but I am not a teacher.

BTW, the 'Thanks' and 'Like' buttons have just disappeared at my end. How about yours?

Yes Mine too Matthew, if you reload the tab they should come back.

Update: And now they've gone again, even after re-loading, or exiting and re-joining the thread.

 

[SoothingDave]

This definition under the word (A2 Let verb (Rent) http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/let_1 )
implies that in American English it might have the meaning you are thinking of.

In BrE we distinguish between the two meanings by using "rent" to mean you want to hire somewhere and pay money to do so, and the word "let" where you own somewhere and you wish to get money in from hiring out your property.

I want to rent a flat = I want to pay someone money to lease somewhere to live.
I want to let a flat = I own a flat, and I want to lease it out to someone who will pay me to live there. (in BrE)

But as I said, the dictionary shows that AmE uses "rent" in the way you are thinking.

One of our American English speaking members can let you know whether this is the case, and confirm how it works for them.

If I owned the apartment and wanted to find tenants to live there and pay me, I might say I wanted to "rent it out."

They would rent it. I would rent it out.

We use "let," or rather "sublet" for the situation where I am a tenant (paying rent to live in someone else's property) and I then find someone to pay the rent and live there in my absence. Say, I am a college student and do not need an apartment in the summer. The landlord wants to be paid anyway, so I find someone to sublet it from me.

I don't think most lease agreements allow for sublets.

 

[Barb_D]

I have a question about the question in this thread.
To me it sounds more like,I want a flat that I can buy with the payment I have received as rent.
Do you think that is one way to look at it ?

No.

 

[suniljain]

The second is not natural.

Why 2nd sentence is wrong. Doesn't it say that I need a house for which I will pay rent?

 

[Matthew Wai]

I would use 'for rent' instead of 'on rent', yet the sentence is still unnatural, but I am not a teacher.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think the OP wants to know that 'something for rent' is the idiom. Am I wrong?

 

[suniljain]

I don't think so, but I am not a teacher.

BTW, the 'Thanks' and 'Like' buttons have just disappeared at my end. How about yours?[/QUOTE]

Can't we write "what about yours"?

 

[Matthew Wai]

'How about yours?' makes more sense to me in this context, but I am not a teacher.

 

[Rover_KE]

Both versions are acceptable, suniljain.