A rent or rate adjustment (4)
I believe the answer is:
tear
'a rent' is the definition.
(I know that rent can be written as tear)
'rate adjustment' is the wordplay.
'adjustment' indicates an anagram (the order of letters is adjusted).
'rate' anagrammed gives 'TEAR'.
'or' is the link.
(Other definitions for tear that I've seen before include "Rip, rend" , "Dash; drop" , "'A rip, binge or drop of saline solution (4)'" , "Rip, sever roughly" , "Rip, pull apart" .)