What Should You Do If the Sub-Tenant Does Not Pay Rent?

Collect from your original tenant. In a sublease, your tenant stays responsible to you for the full rent and acts as the subtenant's landlord, while the subtenant owes rent to your tenant, not to you. If the rent you receive is short, treat it as your tenant's default: demand payment, serve your state's pay-or-quit notice on the tenant, and file for eviction if it goes unpaid. Because the subtenant's right to live in the unit comes from your tenant's lease, an eviction of the tenant removes the subtenant too.

Who owes you rent once there is a subtenant?

A sublease is a separate rental agreement in which your tenant rents all or part of the unit to someone else, the subtenant.

Who you collect from depends on the arrangement in place:

Whether your tenant was allowed to sublet at all depends on your lease and state law. California lets a tenant sublet unless the agreement requires your prior consent. Texas Property Code section 91.005 bars a tenant from subletting during the lease without your prior consent, even if the lease says nothing. Either way, a subtenant gets no greater rights than your tenant has. For how approval works, see what to do if a tenant wants to sublet.

What steps should you take when the rent is short?

Treat a short payment the same way you would without a subtenant:

1. Check what you received. If your tenant paid the full rent, you have no claim, even if the subtenant is behind with your tenant. That dispute is between them.
2. Demand payment from your tenant in writing. Send the demand to the tenant at the address in the lease, since the tenant may no longer live in the unit, and follow state notice-delivery rules. In New York, if rent has not arrived within 5 days of the due date, send a separate late-rent notice by certified mail. Omitting it can give the tenant a defense to a nonpayment eviction.
3. Serve your state's pay-or-quit notice. The notice gives the tenant a set time to pay in full or move out:

• California: 3 days, not counting Saturdays, Sundays, and court holidays. Code of Civil Procedure section 1161 requires the notice to be served on the tenant and also on any subtenant actually living in the unit.
• Florida: 3 days, not counting Saturdays, Sundays, and court-observed holidays, under Fla. Stat. section 83.56(3).
• Texas: at least 3 days' written notice to vacate, unless the written lease sets a different period. Since January 1, 2026, eviction based solely on nonpayment requires a notice to pay rent or vacate if the tenant was not late or delinquent before the month the notice is given.
• New York: a written demand giving at least 14 days to pay or leave.

1. File the eviction if the rent is still unpaid. Name the tenant and the subtenant in the case. California's Code of Civil Procedure section 1164 allows the subtenant in actual occupation to be named as a defendant, and anyone who moves in under the tenant after you file is bound by the judgment. The full court process is in the steps for eviction proceedings.
2. Recover the balance after move-out. You can apply the security deposit to unpaid rent and sue the tenant for anything left over. Follow your state's deposit accounting and return deadlines. California requires an itemized statement and return of any remaining deposit within 21 calendar days after the tenant vacates, even when deductions cover unpaid rent.

If the subtenant offers you rent directly, follow your state's third-party payment rules. Under California Civil Code section 1947.3, you must accept a third party's payment when the payer provides a signed acknowledgment stating that they are not currently a tenant of the premises and accepting payment creates no new tenancy. A receipt you issue does not replace that acknowledgment. The law does not require acceptance after the pay-or-quit notice expires.

Can you collect from the subtenant directly?

Your tenant, as the subtenant's landlord, can collect from the subtenant or evict them; California's unlawful detainer statute lets a tenant bring the same kind of case against a subtenant.

The subtenant owes you directly in three situations:

• Assignment. If the newcomer took over the lease as an assignee, the California Department of Real Estate (DRE) guide says they are directly responsible to you for rent and damage. The original tenant stays liable too unless you released them.
• Novation. If you, the tenant, and the newcomer signed a written agreement making the newcomer solely responsible, only the newcomer owes you.
• A new lease with you. If you screened the subtenant and signed a lease with them, they are your tenant. See whether occupants are responsible for paying rent for the difference between a tenant and an occupant who never signed.

How does a nonpayment eviction affect the subtenant?

The subtenant's right to stay ends when your tenant's right ends. California's unlawful detainer law covers a tenant who stays "in person or by subtenant" after defaulting on rent, so a judgment for possession reaches the subtenant you named. The same rule applies when the lease expires and the subtenant will not leave: the tenant is holding over through the subtenant.

A few rules shape how you remove them:

• Go through the court. The DRE guide says a California landlord cannot lock out a tenant, cut off utilities, remove doors or windows, or take belongings to force a move. Only the sheriff enforces a judgment for possession.
• Serve the subtenant where required. In California, the pay-or-quit notice must also go to any subtenant living in the unit when you serve it. A subtenant who moves in after you served the tenant does not need a separate notice.
• Check local eviction rules. California's statewide just-cause rules treat nonpayment and subletting in violation of the lease as at-fault reasons to end a tenancy. City rent ordinances can add steps. For the California sequence, see the California eviction process for landlords.

An unapproved sublet can also be its own ground for ending the lease. California's unlawful detainer statute allows a 3-day notice to quit, with no chance to cure, when a tenant sublets contrary to the lease. If the unit is covered by the statewide just-cause law, the DRE notes you must first give notice and a chance to fix any violation that can be cured.

What if your tenant moved out and only the subtenant remains?

Your tenant still owes the rent until the lease ends or you agree in writing to release them. You have two practical options:

1. Evict and re-rent. Serve the notice and file against the tenant and the subtenant, then market the unit and apply the deposit and any judgment to the tenant's balance.
2. Sign the subtenant to their own lease. Screen the subtenant with your normal criteria. If they qualify, sign a new lease and, if you choose, a written release of the original tenant. From that date the former subtenant owes you directly.

Whichever option you choose, put it in a document signed by you and every person staying in the unit, so it is clear whether you have a sublet, an assignment, or a new tenancy, and who you can sue. For more on lease terms, see what a lease agreement covers.