Subletting in Nashville: A Guide for Students and Interns

Who Sublets in Nashville, and When

Vanderbilt University is on West End Avenue, about two miles southwest of Downtown. Belmont University is a mile south of it, at the end of Music Row. Lipscomb University, Tennessee State University and Fisk University are also in the city.

Students leave after finals in early May and need someone for the summer. Others leave for a semester abroad in fall or spring.

Summer interns come for the hospital and health care companies around Vanderbilt and West End, the music publishers and labels on Music Row, and the corporate offices Downtown and in the Gulch.

Where Students and Interns Live

• Midtown and West End: the blocks between Vanderbilt, Centennial Park and Music Row, along West End Avenue and Broadway.
• Hillsboro Village and Belmont-Hillsboro: between the two campuses along 21st Avenue South and Belmont Boulevard.
• Edgehill and 12South: east of Belmont, along 12th Avenue South near Sevier Park.
• The Gulch and Downtown: between Music Row and the Cumberland River, near the offices on Broadway and Church Street.
• Germantown and East Nashville: north of Downtown and across the river, on bus routes into the center.
• Sylvan Park and the Nations: west of Vanderbilt, along Charlotte Avenue.

Getting Around Without a Car

Nashville has no subway or light rail. WeGo Public Transit runs the city’s buses, with most routes meeting at WeGo Central downtown. Routes along West End Avenue and 21st Avenue South link Vanderbilt and Hillsboro Village to Downtown. Check WeGo’s map for the current route numbers and how late they run.

If you live between Vanderbilt, Belmont and Midtown, walking and biking cover daily life. Farther out, most people drive, so ask whether a sublet comes with parking.

The Rules to Check Before You Sublet in Nashville

Tennessee’s Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act is in Title 66, Chapter 28 of the Tennessee Code. We could not confirm a rule in it that gives tenants a right to sublet, so your lease and your landlord’s written consent decide. Many leases forbid subletting without approval. Read yours and ask in writing.

Short stays are regulated by Metro Nashville. A short term rental property needs a permit from the Codes Department, and the owner-occupied permit is open only to an owner who lives at the property. Metro’s ordinance says a home rented to the same occupant for more than 30 continuous days is not a short term rental property. So a summer sublet is not a permit matter, but a week or two would be.

Vanderbilt and Belmont each have housing offices. If you live in university housing, ask about its own sublet policy.

How to Sublet Your Place in Nashville

1. Read your lease for a sublet or assignment clause. If it bans subletting, ask your landlord whether they will approve one in writing.
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 Nashville Without Getting Scammed

Sublet Buddy lists sublets of 30 days or longer. Its listings are live in New York City today, and Nashville 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)
• Nashville on Sublet Buddy