Subletting your Apartment
You’ve finally landed the job of your dreams. It allows you to do the work you’ve always dreamed of doing for a great salary and amazing benefits. The perfect opportunity, right? It would be, if it weren’t 200 miles away. You don’t mind moving but have a lease for the next six months. Don’t give up that ideal opportunity until you read over our advice on how to sublet. Subletting means essentially sharing a lease with someone else until it expires. It has its risks but if done properly, it will be possible to move early without breaking a lease. Here are the steps you need to follow to make your sublet experience a success.
Get Your Landlord’s Permission
- Read your lease to determine your subletting rights. If your landlord profusely forbids it, try to explain your situation in writing and negotiate a solution. You can offer to help your landlord find a new tenant, although you are still responsible for the rent until a new lease is signed.
- If subletting is permitted, get your landlord’s permission in writing before moving on to the next step.
Find a Trust-worthy Leaser
- Ask around your circle of friends and co-workers first. If you don’t get a response, post a flyer in a coffee shop you frequent, community center or place an ad in the classifieds.
- Describe your apartment and the dates that it will be available along with your contact information. You can try to advertise for the same rent you are paying but may have to reduce the rate since you are limited in time.
- Interview interested people just as if you were hiring them to work for you. You will still be responsible for the lease so you need to make sure the person who moves in will pay rent on time and keep the apartment well-maintained. Here are some questions to ask a potential sublessor:
- Where are you employed and what is your monthly after-tax income?
- Why are you seeking short-term housing?
- How many people will be living the apartment? Any children? Any pets?
- Do you plan on having any social events or guests staying at the apartment?
- Do you consider yourself a clean person? (The person’s appearance is one clue to the answer although it is not a guarantee that their appearance reflects their housekeeping habits).
- Give the best potential sublet candidates a tour of the apartment. Answer their questions as honestly as possible and be candid about any problems. You don’t want the sublessor to back out in a month or two since you will be left to fill in the rent.
Sign a Written Agreement
- Even if you were lucky enough to have a friend to take over your lease, you still need to have a written agreement. You can make one yourself but unless you’re a lawyer, this is not advisable. The Internet Legal Research Group has a sublet form for every state. Go to http://www.ilrg.com/forms/sublease/us/ and print out the form for your state. A professionally formatted version of the form is available for a fee.
- If not mentioned in the agreement, you need to add in a statement regarding the security deposit. Since your landlord is most likely not required to return it to you until the lease is over, you will need to come to an agreement over it. For example, if the sublessor puts a hole in the wall is he/she responsible for the security deposit? If you don’t address it the money will surely come out of your pocket.
- Depending on the terms in your lease and state laws, you may have tenant’s rights over the sublessor. This means you can evict the person if they do not pay rent or in any other way violate the terms of the written agreement. Explain this to the sublessor so that there is no confusion later.
- Make sure the sublessor is clear on when he/she can move in and leave them a way to contact you as well as the owner of the apartment. Leave an emergency maintenance number as well as the place where the rent should be delivered.
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