{"data":{"id":"us/25-cfr-162.003","jurisdiction":"us","citation":"25 CFR 162.003","heading":"What key terms do I need to know?","body":"Adult means a person who is 18 years of age or older.\nAppeal bond means a bond posted upon filing of an appeal.\nApproval means written authorization by the Secretary or a delegated official or, where applicable, the “deemed approved” authorization of an amendment or sublease.\nAssignment means an agreement between a lessee and an assignee, whereby the assignee acquires all or some of the lessee's rights, and assumes all or some of the lessee's obligations, under a lease.\nBIA means the Secretary of the Interior or the Bureau of Indian Affairs within the Department of the Interior and any tribe acting on behalf of the Secretary or Bureau of Indian Affairs under § 162.018.\nBusiness day means Monday through Friday, excluding federally recognized holidays and other days that the applicable office of the Federal Government is closed to the public.\nCancellation means BIA action to end a lease.\nConsent or consenting means written authorization by an Indian landowner to a specified action.\nConstructive notice means notice:\n(1) Posted at the tribal government office, tribal community building, and/or the United States Post Office; and\n(2) Published in the local newspaper(s) nearest to the affected land and/or announced on a local radio station(s).\nCourt of competent jurisdiction means a Federal, tribal, or State court with jurisdiction.\nDay means a calendar day, unless otherwise specified.\nEmancipated minor means a person less than 18 years of age who is married or who is determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be legally able to care for himself or herself.\nEquipment installation plan means a plan that describes the type and location of any improvements to be installed by the lessee to evaluate the wind resources and a schedule showing the tentative commencement and completion dates for installation of those improvements.\nFair market rental means the amount of rental income that a leased tract of Indian land would most probably command in an open and competitive market, or as determined by competitive bidding.\nFee interest means an interest in land that is owned in unrestricted fee status, and is thus freely alienable by the fee owner.\nFractionated tract means a tract of Indian land owned in common by Indian landowners and/or fee owners holding undivided interests therein.\nGovernment land means any tract, or interest therein, in which the surface estate is owned and administered by the United States, not including Indian land.\nHoldover means circumstances in which a lessee remains in possession of the leased premises after the lease term expires.\nHousing for public purposes means multi-family developments, single-family residential developments, and single-family residences:\n(1) Administered by a tribe or tribally designated housing entity (TDHE); or\n(2) Substantially financed using a tribal, Federal, or State housing assistance program or TDHE.\nImmediate family means, in the absence of a definition under applicable tribal law, a spouse, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, first cousin, lineal ancestor, lineal descendant, or member of the household.\nIndian means:\n(1) Any person who is a member of any Indian tribe, is eligible to become a member of any Indian tribe, or is an owner as of October 27, 2004, of a trust or restricted interest in land;\n(2) Any person meeting the definition of Indian under the Indian Reorganization Act (25 U.S.C. 479) and the regulations promulgated thereunder; and\n(3) With respect to the inheritance and ownership of trust or restricted land in the State of California under 25 U.S.C. 2206, any person described in paragraph (1) or (2) of this definition or any person who owns a trust or restricted interest in a parcel of such land in that State.\nIndian land means any tract in which any interest in the surface estate is owned by a tribe or individual Indian in trust or restricted status and includes both individually owned Indian land and tribal land.\nIndian landowner means a tribe or individual Indian who owns an interest in Indian land.\nIndividually owned Indian land means any tract, or interest therein, in which the surface estate is owned by an individual Indian in trust or restricted status.\nIndian tribe means an Indian tribe under section 102 of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 479a).\nInterest, when used with respect to Indian land, means an ownership right to the surface estate of Indian land.\nLease means a written contract between Indian landowners and a lessee, whereby the lessee is granted a right to possess Indian land, for a specified purpose and duration. The lessee's right to possess will limit the Indian landowners' right to possess the leased premises only to the extent provided in the lease.\nLease document means a lease, amendment, assignment, sublease, or leasehold mortgage.\nLeasehold mortgage means a mortgage, deed of trust, or other instrument that pledges a lessee's leasehold interest as security for a debt or other obligation owed by the lessee to a lender or other mortgagee.\nLessee means person or entity who has acquired a legal right to possess Indian land by a lease under this part.\nLife estate means an interest in property held only for the duration of a designated person(s)' life. A life estate may be created by a conveyance document or by operation of law.\nLTRO means the Land Titles and Records Office of the BIA.\nMail means to send something by U.S. Postal Service or commercial delivery service.\nMinor means an individual who is less than 18 years of age.\nMortgagee means the holder of a leasehold mortgage.\nNEPA means the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.\nNominal rental or nominal compensation means a rental amount that is so insignificant that it bears no relationship to the value of the property that is being leased.\nNon compos mentis means that the person to whom the term is applied has been legally determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be of unsound mind or incapable of managing his or her own affairs.\nNotice of violation means a letter notifying the lessee of a violation of the lease and providing the lessee with a specified period of time to show cause why the lease should not be cancelled for the violation. A 10-day show cause letter is one type of notice of violation.\nOrphaned minor means a minor whose parents are deceased.\nPerformance bond means security for the performance of certain lease obligations, as furnished by the lessee, or a guaranty of such performance as furnished by a third-party surety.\nPermanent improvements means buildings, other structures, and associated infrastructure attached to the leased premises.\nPermit means a written, non-assignable agreement between Indian landowners or BIA and the permittee, whereby the permittee is granted a temporary, revocable privilege to use Indian land or Government land, for a specified purpose.\nPermittee means a person or entity who has acquired a privilege to use Indian land or Government land by a permit.\nPower of attorney means an authority by which one person enables another to act for him or her as attorney-in-fact.\nRemainder interest means an interest in Indian land that is created at the same time as a life estate, for the use and enjoyment of its owner after the life estate terminates.\nRestoration and reclamation plan means a plan that defines the reclamation, revegetation, restoration, and soil stabilization requirements for the project area, and requires the expeditious reclamation of construction areas and revegetation of disturbed areas to reduce invasive plant infestation and erosion.\nSecretary means the Secretary of the Interior.\nSingle-family residence means a building with one to four dwelling units on a tract of land under a single residential lease, or as defined by applicable tribal law or other tribal authorization.\nSingle-family residential development means two or more single-family residences owned, managed, or developed by a single entity.\nSublease means a written agreement by which the lessee grants to an individual or entity a right to possession no greater than that held by the lessee under the lease.\nSurety means one who guarantees the performance of another.\nTDHE means a tribally designated housing entity under 25 U.S.C. 4103(22), a tribally-sponsored or tribally sanctioned not-for-profit entity, or any limited partnership or other entity organized for the purpose of developing or improving low-income housing utilizing tax credits.\nTermination means action by Indian landowners to end a lease.\nTrespass means any unauthorized occupancy, use of, or action on any Indian land or Government land.\nTribal authorization means a duly adopted tribal resolution, tribal ordinance, or other appropriate tribal document authorizing the specified action.\nTribal land means any tract, or interest therein, in which the surface estate is owned by one or more tribes in trust or restricted status, and includes such lands reserved for BIA administrative purposes. The term also includes the surface estate of lands held by the United States in trust for an Indian corporation chartered under section 17 of the Act of June 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 988; 25 U.S.C. 477).\nTribal land assignment means a contract or agreement that conveys to tribal members or wholly owned tribal corporations any rights for the use of tribal lands, assigned by an Indian tribe in accordance with tribal laws or customs.\nTribal law means the body of non-Federal law that governs lands and activities under the jurisdiction of a tribe, including ordinances or other enactments by the tribe, and tribal court rulings.\nTrust or restricted land means any tract, or interest therein, held in trust or restricted status.\nTrust or restricted status means:\n(1) That the United States holds title to the tract or interest in trust for the benefit of one or more tribes or individual Indians; or\n(2) That one or more tribes or individual Indians holds title to the tract or interest, but can alienate or encumber it only with the approval of the United States because of limitations in the conveyance instrument under Federal law or limitations in Federal law.\nUndivided interest means a fractional share in the surface estate of Indian land, where the surface estate is owned in common with other Indian landowners or fee owners.\nUSPAP means the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice promulgated by the Appraisal Standards Board of the Appraisal Foundation to establish requirements and procedures for professional real property appraisal practice.\nUs/we/our means the BIA.\nViolation means a failure to take an action, including payment of compensation, when required by the lease, or to otherwise not comply with a term of the lease. This definition applies for purposes of our enforcement of a lease under this part no matter how “violation” or “default” is defined in the lease.","path":["Title 25—Indians","CHAPTER I—BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR","SUBCHAPTER H—LAND AND WATER","PART 162—LEASES AND PERMITS","Subpart A—General Provisions"],"source_url":"https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2026-08-25/title-25.xml","current_through":"2026-08-25","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-08-27T02:24:59Z","sha256":"6551b8b4692ae3c5375dd266ee0788b8584f19d74b28e386fa6a1389425842a3","source_id":"us-cfr","stale":true,"prev":"us/25-cfr-162.002","next":"us/25-cfr-162.004"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}