License

In the context of real estate and property law, a license is a personal, non-transferable permission granted by a property owner (licensor) to another person (licensee) to use or occupy a property for a specific purpose — without creating any ownership interest or tenancy rights in the licensee. Unlike a lease (which creates a legal interest in property with enforceable rights against the landlord and third parties), a license is revocable at will by the licensor and does not give the licensee the right to exclude others or to continue occupation beyond the licensor's permission. In India, commercial space occupancy arrangements — particularly for co-working spaces, retail kiosks, and short-term office use — are often structured as licenses rather than leases to avoid the tenant protection provisions of state-specific Rent Control Acts that make eviction of leasehold tenants legally complex and time-consuming. A Leave and License Agreement is the most common property occupation document in Maharashtra (where the Transfer of Property Act's lease provisions are superseded by state rent control laws) — providing the property owner with clear legal rights to recover possession at the end of the license period. In the context of financial services, 'license' also refers to the regulatory approval required for institutions to operate — SEBI trading member licenses for brokers, RBI licenses for bank branches, and IRDAI licenses for insurance intermediaries — a fundamentally different usage that reflects government permission to conduct specified financial activities.