Can "rentee" be used to refer to one who rents an item?

I am working on a project where I need to be able to distinguish between one who is offering something for rent, and one who is renting from someone. The phrases used need to be short and concise.

The context is not real estate thus commonly suggested alternatives like landlord or tenant do not fit.

I was thinking maybe rentee could work, thinking it followed the same style as employer versus employee, for example. Some quick googling, however, seems to indicate that rentee is not a valid word, but some people do occasionally use it.

Solution 1:

"er/ee" and used to describe the person or thing doing something, and the person or thing it is done to. So, for example, an "employer" is someone who employs people, and an "employee" is someone who is employed".

This doesn't work the way you want with "rent". A "renter" who would be someone who rents something, and a "rentee" would be someone who is rented. But we don't normally rent people -- unless you're talking about charging for temporary use of a slave. We rent objects. If, say, we have a rental agreement for a car, I'd think the "rentee" is the car, not either party.

As to substance, I believe @alephzero has the best answer: You call the parties the "owner" and the "renter".

Solution 2:

Rentee is a rare formal term whose more common 'form' is lessee:

• One who rents (property, etc.).

(Wiktionary)

Lessee:

• n. the person renting property under a written lease from the owner (lessor). He/she/it is the tenant and the lessor is the landlord.

(The Free Dicrionary )

Ngram: rentee vs lessee.

Renter and tenant are more common terms,