Sublease Agreement: What to Include Before You Sign

Why You Need It in Writing

A text thread is not enough. A written agreement means you both read the same dates and the same number, and it is what you both look at if something is unclear in month two.

There is a second reason in New York. In a building with four or more apartments, the formal request to your landlord has to include a copy of the proposed sublease. So you will need one anyway.

This page lists the terms to cover. It is not a template. For anything unusual, or for a long or expensive sublet, have a lawyer or your school’s student legal services look at it.

The Terms to Cover

• The people: your full name as the tenant, and the subtenant’s full name.
• The place: the address, the apartment number, and which room if it is a room in a shared apartment.
• The dates: the first day and the last day, with a time for handing back the keys.
• The rent: the amount per month, the due date, how it is paid, and what happens if it is late.
• The total: for example, $1,850 a month for 3 months is $5,550. Say how a part month is worked out.
• What is included: utilities, Wi-Fi, laundry, furniture, kitchen things. If the subtenant pays a share of a bill, say what share and when.
• Any deposit you both agree on: the amount, what it covers, and when and how it is returned.
• House rules: smoking, pets, guests, noise, shared spaces, no subletting it on to someone else, no stays under 30 days.
• Condition: that the dated move-in photos are part of the agreement, and that the subtenant returns the place in the same state apart from normal wear.
• Repairs: who the subtenant contacts, and that they tell you about problems right away.
• Ending early: how much notice either of you gives, and what is owed.
• Contacts: how to reach you, and your emergency contact in the city.

It Cannot Give More Than Your Lease

You can only pass on what you have. If your lease ends on July 31, the sublease cannot run to August 15. If your lease bans pets or smoking, so does the sublease, whatever the two of you write.

Say this in the agreement: the sublease is subject to your lease, the subtenant has read the relevant pages, and they agree to follow the building’s rules. Attach those pages.

You also stay responsible to your landlord. If the subtenant pays late or damages something, the landlord looks to you, and you sort it out with the subtenant under your agreement.

If your apartment is rent-stabilized, there are limits on how much you can charge a subtenant. Check those before you write the rent in.

• Subletting a Rent-Stabilized Apartment

Attach Your Landlord’s Consent

Get your landlord’s written approval before the subtenant moves in, and staple or attach a copy to the sublease. It shows the subtenant that the stay is allowed, and it protects you both.

If roommates are on the lease with you, or you have a guarantor, the formal request to the landlord needs their written consent as well. Keep copies with the agreement.

• How to Ask Your Landlord to Sublet
• Subletting with Roommates

Signing It

1. Fill in every blank. Cross out anything that does not apply and both initial it.
2. Read it together, out loud if it helps. Fix anything either of you reads differently.
3. Both sign and date it. A signed PDF is fine if you are in different places.
4. Each keep a full copy with the attachments: lease pages, landlord consent, photos, key count.

What Not to Write

Leave out anything about who the subtenant is. The agreement covers the stay and nothing personal. Do not add rules that apply to them because of a protected trait, such as religion, nationality, disability or family status.

Do not promise things you cannot deliver, such as a renewal or a longer stay your lease does not cover.

• How to Choose a Subtenant