Study Abroad Housing Timeline: 3 Months Out to Your Return

Why Three Months

The slow step is your landlord. Under New York Real Property Law 226-b, which covers buildings with four or more apartments, a landlord can ask for more information within 10 days of your request and has 30 days to say yes or no. The request has to name your subtenant, so you need to find the person first.

Count it backwards. A few weeks to find someone, up to 30 days for the answer, a week for paperwork. That is about two months, plus room for things to slip. The cost of slipping is real: one empty month at $1,850 is $1,850 gone.

Three Months Before You Leave

1. Read your lease: the sublet clause, the end date, and any renewal date that falls while you are away.
2. Tell your roommates your dates and ask what matters to them in a subtenant’s stay (schedule, pets, smoking).
3. Email your landlord or management company to say you plan to sublet and ask how they want the request.
4. Work out your price. Most people start at or a little under their own rent.

• How Much to Charge for a Sublet
• How to Ask Your Landlord to Sublet

Two Months Before

1. Take photos in daylight and list the room with the exact start and end dates.
2. Talk to people by video. Have a roommate join.
3. Pick someone, write the sublease, and send the formal request to your landlord by certified mail, return receipt requested, with the sublease attached.

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.

• When to List Your Sublet
• How to Choose a Subtenant

One Month Before

1. Get the landlord’s answer in writing and send a copy to your subtenant.
2. Set up mail forwarding, autopay for bills in your name, and bank access that works without a US phone number.
3. Call your renters insurance company and ask what changes during a sublet.
4. Choose a local contact and give them a spare key.
5. Write house notes: Wi-Fi, trash days, the super’s number, how the heat and the locks work.

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.

The Last Week and Departure Day

1. Clear a shelf, a drawer and closet space. Store or take home valuables.
2. Clean, then take dated photos and a short video of every room.
3. Do the handover in person if you can: keys, a walk through the apartment, the house notes.
4. Confirm the first rent date with your subtenant, and that it lands before your own rent is due.

• Sublet Checklist Before You Leave

The Countdown for Your Return

Coming back needs less time, but it still needs dates in writing.

1. Six weeks before: message your subtenant to confirm the move-out date in the sublease. If your return date moved, say so now.
2. Four weeks before: ask your landlord about anything due on your side, such as a renewal.
3. Two weeks before: agree a handover time. If you land after they leave, your local contact collects the keys.
4. Move-out day: walk through with your photos from before, in person or on video, and collect every key and fob.
5. First week back: cancel mail forwarding and tell your landlord you are home.

If You Are Behind Schedule

Do the landlord step first anyway. An approved sublet that starts two weeks late still covers most of the semester. A sublet without approval can put your lease at risk.

If you have no lease to come back to, the return side is a different problem with its own steps.

• Coming Back from Abroad with No Lease