Subletting and Assignments

Two common ways to end a lease are subletting and assignments. In both cases, your landlord usually will insist on maintaining the right to certify that prospective tenants meet income minimums and other specific requirements. 

Sublets allow you to rent all or part of your space to another person or organization. You act as the landlord to the new “subtenant.”  However, subleasing does not release you from the legal and financial obligations of the original lease. You remain ultimately responsible under the original lease until it either ends or is terminated. 

Assignments allow you to relinquish the lease and all the responsibilities of the contract to another party. The primary concerns:

1. Ensure you have a subletting and assignment clause in your lease; and
2. Make sure your landlord does not have arbitrary power to decline potential candidates. 

Ensure that the assignment clause also includes language releasing you from financial and legal responsibility once you assign the lease.