What Should You Do If a Tenant Wants to Sublet?

Start with the lease and your state's law, because together they decide whether you can say no. If the lease requires your written consent, the tenant must ask and you decide after screening the proposed subtenant; if the lease is silent, some states let the tenant sublet anyway, while Texas bars subletting without your consent. New York gives tenants in buildings with four or more units a right to sublet that you cannot unreasonably refuse. Whatever you decide, put it in writing, and choose between approving a sublease (your tenant stays responsible) and signing the newcomer to their own lease.

Is your tenant allowed to sublet?

A sublet means your tenant rents all or part of the unit to someone else, the subtenant, while your lease with the tenant stays in force. The tenant becomes the subtenant's landlord and still owes you the rent.

Whether the tenant may sublet depends on what the lease says and where the property is:

If your lease is silent and state and local law permit changing the renewal terms, add a clause at the next renewal that requires your prior written consent for any sublet, assignment, or rental of the unit to guests for pay, including short-term rentals. New York rent-stabilized leases generally must renew on the existing terms and conditions, so renewal alone does not authorize adding this restriction.

State and city rules that override the lease

New York. Under Real Property Law section 226-b, a tenant with a lease in a building with four or more units may sublet with your written consent, and you cannot unreasonably withhold it. A lease clause waiving this right is void. The process has fixed deadlines:

1. The tenant sends a request by certified mail, return receipt requested, with the sublease term, the subtenant's name and home and business addresses, the reason for subletting, the tenant's address during the sublet, the written consent of any co-tenant or guarantor, and a copy of the proposed sublease.
2. Within 10 days of the mailing, you may ask for more information, as long as the request is not unduly burdensome.
3. Within 30 days after the tenant mails the request for consent or the additional information you reasonably requested, whichever is later, you must send written consent or your reasons for refusing. If you do not answer, consent is presumed.

If you refuse on reasonable grounds, there is no sublet and the tenant is not released from the lease. If you refuse unreasonably, the tenant may sublet anyway and can recover court costs and attorney's fees if a court finds you acted in bad faith.

For rent-stabilized apartments, New York's housing agency adds limits. The tenant may not sublet for more than two years in any four-year period and must intend to return. The tenant may charge the subtenant no more than the legal rent plus any sublet allowance set by the Rent Guidelines Board, and up to 10% more if the unit is furnished, and owes the subtenant three times any overcharge.

How to screen the proposed subtenant

Screen the subtenant the way you screened the original tenant, with the same written criteria:

• Have the subtenant complete your rental application form and sign permission for a credit and background check.
• Apply the same income, credit, rental history, and occupancy standards you use for every applicant.
• Ask the tenant for the sublet dates, the rent the subtenant will pay, and a copy of the proposed sublease.

The Fair Housing Act applies to sublet approvals. You cannot refuse a subtenant because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin, so base any refusal on your written criteria and record the reason. Consumer reports include third-party credit, criminal, eviction, and rental-history reports. If you refuse, or approve only with a co-signer, based even partly on a consumer report, the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires you to give the subtenant an adverse action notice naming the reporting company and explaining their right to a free copy and to dispute errors.

Sublease or direct lease: which should you approve?

Your answer shapes who owes you rent.

A sublease keeps a second party responsible for the rent, but it puts a person in your unit you have no contract with. If the subtenant stops paying, your claim is against your tenant; see what to do if the sub-tenant does not pay rent. If the tenant is leaving permanently, a direct lease or assignment is usually cleaner; see whether a tenant can find a replacement to finish the lease. If the tenant wants a roommate to move in and share the unit, adding that person as a co-tenant may fit better than a sublease; see how leases with more than one signer work.

What should your written consent say?

Use a short consent form signed by you, the tenant, and the subtenant. It should:

1. Name the tenant, the subtenant, the unit, and the sublet start and end dates.
2. State that the original tenant remains responsible for the full rent, damage, and every lease obligation.
3. State that the subtenant must follow every lease term, including pet, occupancy, smoking, and parking rules, and gets no greater rights than the tenant has.
4. Attach the signed sublease and record the subtenant's rent.
5. Say whether the security deposit stays as is; it usually does, with any deposit the subtenant pays going to the tenant.
6. Give the subtenant your contact for repairs and emergencies.
7. Limit the consent to this subtenant and these dates, so it is not consent to future sublets.

What about short-term rental sublets?

Renting the unit on Airbnb, Vrbo, or similar sites is subletting, usually for stays under 30 days. California's Department of Real Estate notes that most rental agreements prohibit it and many local laws also ban or restrict it with fines. Your lease should address short-term rentals by name.

Cities increasingly regulate these stays directly. In New York City, Local Law 18 requires short-term rental hosts to register with the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement, and booking platforms may not process transactions for unregistered rentals of fewer than 30 days. The host must stay in the same unit with guests, so you cannot approve an entire-unit short-term sublet while the tenant is away. Rent-regulated units cannot register. Owners can ask that office to put a building on its Prohibited Buildings List when the leases bar short-term rentals. Elsewhere, check your city's short-term rental ordinance before you agree to one. For the lease terms that sit underneath any sublet, see what a lease agreement covers.