Sublet vs. Lease Takeover vs. Short-Term Rental: Which One?

The One-Line Version of Each

• Sublet: you stay the tenant, someone else lives there for a set time, and you come back.
• Lease takeover (assignment): someone replaces you on the lease for good, and you are done.
• Short-term rental: a guest stays for fewer than 30 days. In most New York City apartments this is only legal if you are living there too.

Sublet

A sublet, or sublease (the words mean the same thing), is a second agreement that sits under your lease. Your lease with the landlord continues unchanged. Your subtenant pays you or pays through a platform, and you keep paying the landlord. If the subtenant damages something or stops paying, the landlord looks to you.

In buildings with four or more apartments, Real Property Law 226-b gives tenants the right to request a sublet. You ask in writing by certified mail with the details; the landlord has 30 days and cannot unreasonably refuse. In smaller buildings the lease decides.

Best for: leaving for a summer, a semester abroad, a work rotation or a few months of travel when you want your apartment back. Most sublets are furnished, because your things stay.

• How to Sublet Your NYC Apartment
• Is Subletting Legal in NYC?

Lease Takeover (Assignment)

In a lease takeover, a new tenant steps into your lease for the rest of the term. The legal name is an assignment. Done properly, with the landlord’s written consent and ideally a written release, your responsibility ends and the new tenant deals with the landlord directly.

The landlord has more power here than with a sublet. Under the same statute, a landlord can refuse to consent to an assignment without giving any reason. The tenant’s protection is different: if the landlord unreasonably withholds consent, the tenant can ask to be released from the lease on 30 days’ notice. So a refusal can itself become your way out.

Best for: moving out permanently before the lease ends. Not for anyone who wants to come back. Rent-stabilized tenants should get advice first, because an assignment gives up a valuable lease.

• Leaving Before Your Lease Ends

Short-Term Rental

A stay of fewer than 30 consecutive days. In most New York City apartment buildings this is allowed only when the host lives in the home and is present, with at most two paying guests, and since 2023 the host must be registered with the city for a platform to take the booking. Rent-regulated apartments cannot register at all, and most leases prohibit it anyway.

Best for: almost nobody who rents. If you are leaving town, you are by definition not present, so this is not a legal way to cover your rent while away.

• Local Law 18 and the 30-Day Rule

Side by Side

• Who is on the lease afterwards? Sublet: you. Takeover: the new tenant. Short-term rental: you.
• Who does the landlord chase for rent? Sublet: you. Takeover: the new tenant, once you are released. Short-term rental: you.
• Do you get the apartment back? Sublet: yes. Takeover: no. Short-term rental: you never left.
• Can the landlord refuse? Sublet: not unreasonably, in buildings with four or more units. Takeover: yes, without a reason, though an unreasonable refusal can let you out of the lease. Short-term rental: yes, and the city’s rules apply on top.
• Minimum stay? Sublet: 30 days in practice. Takeover: the rest of the lease. Short-term rental: under 30 days by definition.
• Typical furniture? Sublet: yours stays. Takeover: you take it with you. Short-term rental: yours.

Which One Fits You

You are leaving for three months and coming back: sublet.

You are studying abroad for a semester and your lease runs through August: sublet for the semester, and ask your subtenant whether they want the summer too.

You got a job in another city and your lease has seven months left: ask for an assignment first. If the landlord says no, ask in writing whether they will release you, or sublet the remaining months.

You want to rent your place for a week while you are on vacation: in most buildings, you cannot.

You are the one looking, for a summer or a semester: you want a sublet. You are looking for a long-term home and are happy to finish someone’s lease and renew it: a lease takeover can be a good way in, often with no broker involved.

Whichever You Choose, Put It in Writing

Get the landlord’s consent in writing, not on the phone. Write down the dates, the rent, what is included, and who is responsible for what. Take dated photos of the apartment at the handover. If you are the one moving in, ask to see the landlord’s consent and the original lease before you pay.

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