In contrast to a credit-financed purchase, the user of leasing or renting capital good is not its legal owner. For this reason a lessee does not have a to carry these goods as an asset on his balance sheets.

The lessor - and not the user of the leased capital goods - finances the purchase cost. Thus lessees do not become less liquid and/or have to enter into third-party financing of the investment object (e.g. to pay for one or more company buildings) well in advance of its possible initial use. Instead, it is possible to finance the cost of capital goods from the income generated by their use over time. This approach is in accordance with the "pay-as-you-earn" principle.

Leasing	Renting
The lessee - together with the lessor - defines the requirement profile for the object invested in and fixes the purchase date to suit his specific needs. He selects the manufacturer, conducts the purchase/agreement negotiations, if necessary, and sees to the transfer or, in the case of a company building, management of the construction himself - or, depending on his individual requirement, he can leave all or part of this work to the leasing company.	As a rule, the hirer-out alone decides the time of purchase and the condition and supplier of the capital good.
Payments for use and the period of use are fixed for the entire term of agreement from the very outset. This means that definite planning is possible. The shared interest of lessor and lessee in an optimum re-utilisation - either by the user hitherto or third parties - of the object invested in after expiry of the leasing agreement at the same time ensures that the suitability of the leased object for its destined use and its suitability for the market are ensured at all times.	The nature of the agreement and the market situation may mean that changes in hire rates and periods of hire especially cannot be calculated in advance. Further imponderables are continuous fitness for use - because, in contrast to leasing, maintenance is usually the responsibility of the hirer-out - and suitability for use - because, for example, changes in market conditions call for a change in use.