Subletting in Ann Arbor: A Guide for Students and Interns

Who Sublets in Ann Arbor, and When

Ann Arbor is a college town built around the University of Michigan. Most undergraduates sign 12-month leases, then leave after the winter term ends in the spring. That leaves the spring and summer terms, about four months, to cover.

The people looking are students staying for spring or summer classes, researchers in university labs, and interns at the university hospital and local technology and engineering offices. Students who study abroad also sublet for the fall or winter term.

There are usually more rooms than summer renters, so it helps to list early and be realistic on price.

Where Students and Interns Live

• Central Campus: the blocks around the Diag, South University Avenue, State Street and Packard Street, within a walk of most classes.
• Kerrytown and the Old Fourth Ward: north of campus toward the Farmers Market and the Medical Campus.
• Burns Park and the streets south of Hill Street, toward Michigan Stadium.
• The Old West Side: west of Main Street and downtown.
• North Campus: around Plymouth Road and Murfin Avenue, near the engineering, art and music buildings, linked to Central Campus by university buses.
• Near the offices: downtown along Main Street, the Medical Campus, and research parks on Plymouth Road and South State Street.

Getting Around Without a Car

Central Ann Arbor is small enough to walk or bike. University of Michigan buses connect Central Campus, North Campus and the Medical Campus. The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority, called TheRide, runs city buses to the rest of Ann Arbor and to Ypsilanti. Parking near campus is limited, so ask whether a sublet includes a space before you bring a car.

The Rules to Check Before You Sublet in Ann Arbor

The University of Michigan’s Student Legal Services publishes tips on subletting. It tells students to read the lease, because usually you will need the landlord’s written consent to sublease, and to consult roommates, because the lease may require their consent too. The university’s off-campus housing office adds that the original tenant is still responsible to the landlord for all terms of the lease.

Michigan’s Legislature publishes a booklet called A Practical Guide for Tenants and Landlords, which covers leases in the state. Student Legal Services also advises University of Michigan students on leases and subleases at no charge.

Short stays are separate. The City of Ann Arbor defines a short-term rental as a home rented for 30 consecutive days or less and requires a license for it. A sublet for the summer is longer than that.

How to Sublet Your Place in Ann Arbor

1. Read your lease for the sublease clause and any landlord form or fee it mentions. Student Legal Services can review it with you if you are a U-M student.
2. Ask your landlord in writing, and get the approval in writing before you list. An email that names the subtenant and the dates is far better than a phone call.
3. Talk to your roommates. If they are on the lease, the lease may need their written agreement too.
4. Set exact move-in and move-out dates that sit inside your own lease term.
5. Price it near your own rent. As an example of the math, not a local price: if you pay $1,000 a month and leave for 3 months, an empty room costs you $3,000.
6. Put it in writing: names, dates, rent, what is included, how the deposit is handled and the house rules. Both of you sign and keep a copy.

Choose a subtenant on the stay only: dates, ability to pay, references, pets, smoking. Fair housing laws make it illegal to choose or refuse someone because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or family status, and many states and cities add gender identity, sexual orientation, age, lawful source of income and more.

• How to Handle Your Sublet, Start to Finish
• Going Abroad: The Apartment Checklist

How to Find a Sublet in Ann Arbor Without Getting Scammed

Sublet Buddy lists sublets of 30 days or longer. Its listings are live in New York City today, and Ann Arbor is on the way.

• See the place in person, or on a live video call where the person walks from the street door to the room.
• Ask to see the page of the lease with their name on it, and the landlord’s written approval of the sublet.
• Never pay a deposit or rent before you have a signed agreement. Be wary of anyone who wants a wire transfer, gift cards or crypto.
• Be wary of pressure. “Three other people want it today” is a reason to slow down, not to pay.

• Sublet Scam Warning Signs (Written for New York, but the Warning Signs Are the Same)
• All Cities on Sublet Buddy