unnecessary, they should be removed. It is relatively easy to identify whether there is more than one path between two entities. However, this does not necessarily imply that one of the relationships is redundant, as they may represent different associations between the entities. For example, consider the relationships between the PropertyForRent, Lease, and Client entities shown in Figure 15.7. There are two ways to find out which clients rent which properties. There is the direct route using the Rents relationship between the Client and PropertyForRent entities and there is the indirect route using the Holds and AssociatedWith relationships via the Lease entity. Before we can assess whether both routes are required, we need to establish the purpose of each relationship. The Rents relationship indicates which client rents which property. On the other hand, the Holds relationship indicates which client holds which lease, and the AssociatedWith relationship indicates which properties are associated with which leases. Although it is true that there is a rela- tionship between clients and the properties they rent, this is not a direct relationship and the association is more accurately represented through a lease. The Rents relationship is therefore redundant and does not convey any additional information about the relationship between PropertyForRent and Client that cannot more correctly be found through the Lease entity. To ensure that we create a minimal model, the redundant Rents relationship must be removed.