1. Payment (as rent or security) required from a new tenant in exchange for a key to the leased property. [Cases: Landlord and Tenant 184(2). C.J.S. Landlord and Tenant §§ 473(2–5).]
2. Payment made (usu. secretly) by a prospective tenant to a landlord or current tenant to increase the chance of obtaining a lease in an area where there is a housing shortage. • Key money in the first sense is a legal transaction; key money in the second sense is usu. an illegal bribe that violates housing laws.
