Study Abroad Apartment Checklist: Before You Leave NYC

Do the Math Before Anything Else

Your lease keeps running while you are away. Take your monthly rent and multiply by the months you are gone. $1,850 a month for four months is $7,400. For five months it is $9,250.

That number tells you how much effort a sublet is worth. A sublet means you stay the tenant and someone else lives in your room for a set time. Nobody can promise you will find one, but a room you never list recovers nothing.

Lease and Landlord Approval

Find the part of your lease about subletting. Then ask your landlord in writing. In New York, tenants in buildings with four or more apartments have the right to ask to sublet under Real Property Law 226-b, and the landlord may not unreasonably refuse.

The formal request goes by certified mail, return receipt requested, with the dates, the subtenant’s name and a copy of the proposed sublease. The landlord can ask for more information within 10 days and has 30 days to answer. In a smaller building you have no such right, so the lease and the landlord decide.

Get your landlord’s written approval before anyone moves in. An email that says yes is good. A text or a verbal okay is hard to prove later.

• How to Ask Your Landlord to Sublet
• Is Subletting Legal in NYC?

Roommates and Your Subtenant

Tell your roommates before you list. They will live with this person, so let them join a video call with anyone serious.

Put the sublet in writing: dates, rent, when it is due, what stays in the room, house rules, and how either of you can end it early. You stay responsible to the landlord for the rent and the apartment the whole time.

When you choose a subtenant, ask only about the stay: dates, ability to pay, references, pets, smoking and schedule. In New York City it is illegal to choose or refuse someone because of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship status, disability, family status, marital status, age, lawful source of income or another protected trait.

• Subletting with Roommates
• What to Put in a Sublease Agreement

The Checklist, in Order

1. Lease: read the sublet clause and note the date your lease ends.
2. Landlord: send the written request and keep the reply.
3. Sublet: list the room with exact dates, then sign a written agreement.
4. Roommates: agree on shared bills and who the subtenant contacts day to day.
5. Mail: set up USPS forwarding to a US address you trust. USPS offers temporary forwarding for 15 days up to one year.
6. Utilities and autopay: list every bill in your name (electric, gas, internet). Keep them on autopay and agree how the subtenant pays you back.
7. Renters insurance: call your insurer and ask what changes when someone else lives there.
8. Valuables: take home or lock away your passport copies, jewelry, documents and anything you would be upset to lose.
9. Keys: count every key and fob. Hand over one set and leave a spare with your local contact.
10. Local contact: one person in New York who can let in a repair person or do a handover.
11. Phone and banking: make sure you can log in and pay rent from abroad.

Renters Insurance and Your Things

New York’s insurance regulator says a landlord does not insure a tenant’s personal property. That is what a renters policy is for. It also says a policy often covers your belongings when you are away from home.

What it does not spell out is a sublet. So ask your insurer two questions: does my policy stay in force while a subtenant lives there, and are my things covered. Do not assume your policy covers your subtenant’s things. Suggest they get their own.

• What to Do with Your Stuff When You Sublet
• Renters Insurance in NYC

Phone and Banking Access for Rent

Rent is still due to your landlord on the same day each month, whether or not your subtenant has paid you yet. Keep a cushion of one month in the account that pays it.

Many banks send login codes by text to your US number. If you swap SIM cards abroad, those texts will not arrive. Before you leave, switch to an authenticator app or a number you will keep, tell your bank where you are going, and do one test login.