abiomed , inc . and subsidiaries notes to consolidated financial statements 2014 ( continued ) ( 7 ) commitments and contingencies the company applies the disclosure provisions of fin no . 45 , guarantor 2019s accounting and disclosure requirements for guarantees , including guarantees of indebtedness of others , and interpretation of fasb statements no . 5 , 57 and 107 and rescission of fasb interpretation no . 34 ( fin no . 45 ) to its agreements that contain guarantee or indemnification clauses . these disclosure provisions expand those required by sfas no . 5 accounting for contingencies , by requiring that guarantors disclose certain types of guarantees , even if the likelihood of requiring the guarantor 2019s performance is remote . the following is a description of arrangements in which the company is a guarantor . product warranties 2014the company routinely accrues for estimated future warranty costs on its product sales at the time of sale . the ab5000 and bvs products are subject to rigorous regulation and quality standards . operating results could be adversely effected if the actual cost of product failures exceeds the estimated warranty provision . patent indemnifications 2014in many sales transactions , the company indemnifies customers against possible claims of patent infringement caused by the company 2019s products . the indemnifications contained within sales contracts usually do not include limits on the claims . the company has never incurred any material costs to defend lawsuits or settle patent infringement claims related to sales transactions . under the provisions of fin no . 45 , intellectual property indemnifications require disclosure only . as of march 31 , 2006 , the company had entered into leases for its facilities , including its primary operating facility in danvers , massachusetts , with terms through fiscal 2010 . the danvers lease may be extended , at the company 2019s option , for two successive additional periods of five years each with monthly rent charges to be determined based on then current fair rental values . the company 2019s lease for its aachen location expires in august 2008 unless an option to extend for an additional four years is exercised by the company . in december 2005 we closed our office facility in the netherlands , recording a charge of approximately $ 58000 for the remaining lease term . total rent expense under these leases , included in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations approximated $ 821000 , $ 824000 and $ 1262000 for the fiscal years ended march 31 , 2004 , 2005 and 2006 , respectively . future minimum lease payments under all significant non-cancelable operating leases as of march 31 , 2006 are approximately as follows ( in thousands ) : fiscal year ending march 31 , operating leases .

1	fiscal year ending march 31,	operating leases
2	2007	1703
3	2008	1371
4	2009	1035
5	2010	710
6	total future minimum lease payments	$ 4819

from time-to-time , the company is involved in legal and administrative proceedings and claims of various types . while any litigation contains an element of uncertainty , management , in consultation with the company 2019s general counsel , presently believes that the outcome of each such other proceedings or claims which are pending or known to be threatened , or all of them combined , is not expected to have a material adverse effect on the company 2019s financial position , cash flow and results . on may 15 , 2006 richard a . nazarian , as selling stockholder representative , filed a demand for arbitration ( subsequently amended ) with the boston office of the american arbitration association .

Previous questions in this conversation: what was the total of operating leases in 2007? and what was it in 2008? what was, then, the decline over the year? and what is this decline as a portion of the 2007 total?
Previous answers: 1703.0 1371.0 332.0 0.19495
Question: and in the year before, what was the lease expense?
Answer: 1262000