Legal Definitions - tenant paravail

Tenant Paravail

This is an archaic legal term that refers to the ultimate tenant in a chain of leases. In simpler terms, a tenant paravail is a subtenant—an individual or entity who leases property from another tenant (the sublessor), rather than directly from the original landlord. They are the party who actually occupies and uses the property.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Residential Sublet: Imagine Sarah rents an apartment from a property management company. Sarah then decides to sublet one of the bedrooms in her apartment to Mark, with the property management company's approval. In this scenario, Mark is the tenant paravail. He is Sarah's tenant, and he is the one directly occupying and living in that bedroom. Sarah, who leased to Mark, would be considered the sublessor.

• Commercial Office Space: A large corporation, "Global Enterprises," leases an entire floor of a downtown office building from the building owner. Global Enterprises finds it has more space than it needs and, with the building owner's consent, subleases a smaller suite on that floor to a startup company, "Innovate Tech." Innovate Tech is the tenant paravail because they are leasing directly from Global Enterprises and are the ones physically occupying and conducting business in that specific office suite.

• Agricultural Land Lease: Consider a historical context where a wealthy landowner leases a large farm to a primary farmer, Mr. Henderson. Mr. Henderson, in turn, leases a specific field within that farm to his neighbor, Mrs. Davies, for her to grow a specialized crop. Mrs. Davies would be the tenant paravail. She holds her tenancy from Mr. Henderson (the sublessor) and is the one directly cultivating and using that particular field.