Any advice for being the letter in a sublet?

May 17, 2004 8:59 PM

Any advice for being the letter in a sublet? (More inside, naturally)

A girl in my knitting group has expressed interest in possibly subletting the apartment Moz and I live in now, for the last six months of our lease. I know there is plenty of stuff on google, but I am also interested in hearing personal stories. Should I get references? Does the subletter pay the rent to us and we pay the rental company? Does she just take over the lease when ours is done? Is it worth it for the last six months of a lease? (Part of the reason I am kind of itching to move, besides the fact that we just need more space, is that our neighborhood is rapidly trendifying and I think six months might really make a difference in rents.) Oh, we live in Chicago.

posted by sugarfish to home & garden (4 comments total)

I don't have personal experience to offer but for what it's worth here are a few questions I'd want to consider in your position:

- does the lease permit subletting? (some don't)
- what are the state's rules for breaking a lease? (you may have the option of breaking it without fault if you can present the landlord with a qualified applicant prepared to make their own lease)

Always check references. Always. Check credit and income too.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 11:41 PM on May 17, 2004

Depending on the market, some landlords will be happy to let you out of your lease if you find a new tenant to take over. When I lived in Chicago and needed to get out of my Lincoln Park studio, I forked over a $200 "marketing fee" and the building management took care of the rest. I wasn't liable for anything the new guy did.
posted by PrinceValium at 12:05 AM on May 18, 2004

following up on PrinceV--

you can always bring the landlord in on the sublease, even if it's not permitted in your lease. set everything up, then tell the landlord about it. LL may then just transfer the lease, relieving you of liability and refunding your deposit.

i'm in chicago, and this is what we did the one time we needed out of our lease. but we were in a three flat. my sister is in a high-rise and i doubt they would agree to transfer the lease mid-term (they schedule too much maintenance for the between tenants periods), although they would permit a sublease.

subleases can be handled lots of different ways (subtenant paying you & you paying landlord; subtenant paying landlord; you paying landlord up front & subtenant repaying you), but essentially, as long as the lease remains in your name, you retain liability for rent, damage, complaints of other tenants, utilities (unless you're able to get them transferred) &c. you're assigning your duties under the lease to a new person, but because the LL isn't part of your sublease agreement, his rights of enforcement are against you.
posted by crush-onastick at 5:48 AM on May 18, 2004

I would highly suggest bringing your landlord into the picture. Here in Athens, GA, subletting is part of the culture and for individual leases, the subleaser just pays the landlord. The reason I highly suggest getting a landlord involved is this: If you and the subleaser don't sign an actual transfer of tenancy with the landlord and your subleaser messes up your apartment, YOU are still held liable because the contract is in your name.
...Or what crush said.
Of course, IANAL, but I've seen this happen here plently of times although the laws could very well be different in Chicago.
posted by jmd82 at 10:28 AM on May 18, 2004