Sublease Agreement

Often times students are not able to complete the full term of the lease, because of early graduation, a semester abroad, and so on. In those situations students can either assign their lease to someone else, or sublease their bedroom to someone else. Before a student can do either of those however, the student needs to make sure that the lease allows him/her either both options or one of the options. In addition, leases will usually require that the student obtains a written permission by the landlord in advance.

However, whether you are subleasing (or assigning) to someone, you need to understand that the original lease between you and the landlord remains in effect, and that if the new person to whom you are subleasing (assigning the lease) defaults in his/her obligations, the landlord still has the right to go after you. Thus, pick your sublessees (or assignees) wisely!

Also, the lease may specify that in addition to the written permission from the landlord to sublease/assign, there may be a sublease/assignment fee that the student may have to pay, and the landlord will require that certain permission sublease/assignment forms are signed by the student, the remaining roommates, and the new person (sublessee/assignee).

In addition to those, the student should also consider signing a sublease agreement with the sublessee/assignee. The SLS attorney can provide sample subleases to students upon request.

(Click to enlarge/download)

For more information on subleasing & assigning, visit Student Legal Services.