A
lease for longer than one, five or 10 years, depending on the specific
asset being leased. For example,
commercial property usually has long-term leases for five or more years, while residential property often carries long-term leases for more than one year. A long-term lease locks in the
price one pays for the
asset, which is usually advantageous because prices often trend upward. However, long-term leases offer little flexibility. For example, one may have to pay significant penalties if one cancels a long-term lease. One humorous example of a long-term lease is the Guinness brewery in Ireland, which Arthur Guinness rented for 9,000 years for 45 pounds per year.