Should I allow subletting?

These terms get mixed up, and the difference changes your risk. In a sublet, your original tenant stays on the lease and rents the space to someone else, so you still have one responsible party. In an assignment, the original tenant hands the whole lease to a new person and walks away.

Adding a roommate is different again, and so is a short-term vacation rental, which many leases and local rules treat separately. Decide which of these you will permit before you write a single clause. Blending them into one vague rule leaves gaps.

Tenants sublet for real reasons: a job relocation, a semester abroad, a temporary income gap. If your lease bans it outright, some will do it quietly anyway, and now you have an unscreened stranger you never approved. A controlled policy keeps you in the loop.

Approved subletting can also cut turnover and vacancy. A tenant who can cover a few months away is less likely to break the lease entirely. You keep the original tenant responsible while filling the unit with someone you actually vetted.

• Require written landlord approval before any subtenant moves in, with a reasonable review window.
• Screen the subtenant to the same standard you use for any applicant, including income and background checks.
• Keep the original tenant fully liable for rent, damage, and lease violations.
• Put the approved subtenant on a written sublease that references your master lease.
• Set clear limits on term length and, where relevant, short-term rental use.

Consent rules vary by state, and some places limit how unreasonably you may refuse. Do not assume your local rule matches a neighbor's. Check the state law guides and confirm your language with your own counsel before you rely on it.

A hard no can be the right call for a small owner-occupied building, a unit with tight occupancy limits, or a market flooded with short-term rental abuse. Just make the ban explicit in the lease and apply it consistently to every tenant, not selectively.

Even then, consider allowing supervised subletting on request. A blanket refusal is simple, but it removes a pressure valve that keeps good tenants from breaking their lease outright.