Lease
A written document by which the rights of use and occupancy of land and/or structures are transferred by the owner (lessor, party in fee simple title) to another person (lessee, ground lessee, tenant) for specified period of time upon specified terms and conditions, such a payment of rent. The lessor retains the right to take possession of the land and/or structures in the event of default by the lessee under the terms of the lease, and at the end of the lease term.

Leasehold
A manner of holding title to property wherein the mortgagor does not actually own the property but rather has a recorded long-term lease on it.

Lender
The bank, mortgage company, or mortgage broker offering the loan.

Lessee
The person or entity to whom real property is leased.

Lessor
The fee owner of real property who leases the property to another. The lessor may be a person or entity.

Liabilities
A person's financial obligations. Liabilities include long-term and short-term debt, as well as any other amounts that are owed to others.

Lien
A legal hold or claim of a creditor on the property of another.

Lien Search
An examination of public records to identify any claims of a creditor against real or personal property. In co-op lending lien search is used instead of a title search.

Lifetime Cap
The maximum allowable interest rate over the life of the loan.

Limited Partnership
An entity composed of and owned by one or more general partners and one or more limited partners. Limited partners share in partnership only to the extent of their investment in the partnership.

Loan Origination Fee
A one-time fee that covers a portion of the lender's administrative costs in procesing a loan.

Loan Processing
The steps taken by an institution lender from the time a request for a loan application is received to the time the loan is approved or denied, including taking the application, credit investigation, evaluation of the loan and other steps.

Loan Servicing
Supervising a loan after it has been made. This could involve collecting payments, keeping accounting records, computing interest and principal, etc.

Loan Term
The period granted for loan repayment.

Loan Terms
Essential conditions of a loan which specify the principal amount, interest rate, maturity, method of repayment, etc.

Loan-to-Value (LTV)
The ratio of the principal amount of the loan to the lesser of the purchase price of the property or the property's appraised value. You may see this expressed as an 80% loan, or 80% LTV.

Lock-In
The time at which an interest rate is set and the length of time the rate will be held prior to the closing of a loan.

Low-Documentation
Some loan products require only that applicants state the source of their income without providing supporting documentation such as tax returns.