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Tenants getting not as much relief, it's said (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

lessees

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'tenants' is the definition.
(lessee is a kind of tenant)

'not as much relief it's said' is the wordplay.
'not' becomes 'less' (I've seen this in other clues).
'as much' becomes 'e' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'relief' becomes 'ease' (I've seen this before).
'it's said' shows a homophone (sound like).
'ease' is a homophone of 'es'.
'less'+'e'+'es'='LESSEES'

'getting' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for lessees that I've seen before include "rent payers" , "People renting" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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