How to Speak to Your Landlord About Subletting

By Allie Mitchell on February 21, 2017

Getting your own apartment is one of the big steps when it comes to becoming an adult. It is a place to call your own where you make your own rules and are accountable for your own actions. You can choose to have a roommate if you would like or live on your own; the possibilities are endless for this adventure you decide to endure.

Sometimes though, you may have to leave your apartment for unknown reasons for a long period of time and for most people they don’t want to let the empty apartment go to waste. There is a term in the apartment owner’s world that gets thrown around a lot, but not most people know about.

This term is known as subletting and if you don’t know what it is and you own an apartment that you are thinking about not being in for a long while, you should consider looking into it.

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Subletting is subleasing your property to someone else, known as a subtenant. Some people sublet on a whim or they really think about it before making a decision like that. There are proper ways to go about subletting your apartment without many worries, although there will always be moments of wariness when going through this process.

But before you make any moves you have to keep one thing in mind: your landlord. You know that person that you pay your rent to? You need to inform your landlord that you are choosing to sublet your apartment and see if they will even let you. It is not a decision you make all on your own; you can choose to do it, but actually actively doing it is another situation. It is important and crucial to let your landlord know about your plans.

1. Be honest: Be aware of the contract you signed before you got the apartment to see if subletting is even allowed. If you have read the contract and see that subletting is not allowed, but you still decide to go through with it, this could cause more trouble for you than you anticipated.

So be honest with your landlord about what you want to do because some of them don’t want anyone living in the apartment that isn’t on the lease and they could be very headstrong about that fact, so there may be no getting around it. But if you come at them in a different way you may be able to get what you want; it all depends on your relationship with them.

2. Responsibility: Your name is on the lease from the beginning and that means that you are responsible for what happens. You won’t be the one living there but anything that happens will be on you. So this is a good point to bring up to your landlord and also to the person that will be living there so they are aware of the consequences.

If you bring up your accountability and that you are aware of the situation at hand and all that is put on your shoulders, you could ease your landlord’s mind a bit before they give you an answer.

3. Positivity: Not many people have a relationship with their landlord or really ever see them, especially if they pay their bill online. If you want something from someone it is always in your best interest to have a good relationship with that person.

If you have a good relationship with your landlord and then show what a good relationship you have with your potential subtenant, they will probably feel much better that they know you and that you have put such trust in the person that will be taking your place while you are gone.

4. Numbers: Sometimes it isn’t all about the quality, but about the quantity — the numbers, for lack of a better word. You want to be able to assure your landlord that you know what you’re doing and that you will be able to be a sort of micro-manager. You want to speak to your landlord with all the logistics at hand.

You need to have all your information with you before you speak to them. They want to know that you can handle everything even though you won’t be around. You should consider any potential things that could happen and speak to them about what you would do to fix it or manage the issue, even from far away.

5. Subtenants: Lastly, let your landlord meet your new tenant or your potential tenants. Your landlord will have to be around them more than you will, so it would be good for you to show some respect and introduce them. They should take your word for it about if your subtenant is good enough or not, but then again, first impressions make a huge difference when it comes to these matters.

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