Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve had to lock up your apartment for a lengthy period of time and you couldn’t help but wonder if it was possible for you to lease out the apartment for the period you were gone? Well, it is possible and it is known as Subleasing. It is a nice way to recoup some of the rental costs you would spend for a property that you will be leaving for a while. But just like every other housing contracts, subleasing too has its own set of governing rules and we will be looking at them briefly in this post.
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Generally, the requirements include:
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Getting Your Landlord’s Consent
It is important to get the consent of your landlord before going ahead with your subleasing plan. A subleasing form is easily available and you can easily pass one across to your landlord and get his consent in written form, then you can go ahead and draft out your own sublease agreement within the confines of what is acceptable. A landlord is expected to give his response to a subletting request within 14 days. If after 14 days, he hasn’t done that, the tenant can take this as acceptance.
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Realizing that the Original Lease Agreement Still Apply to a Sublease
While drafting your sublease agreement, you have to make it subjective to the original lease stipulations. Or better still, you can just attach a copy of the original lease contract for the perusal of your subtenant (the person you are subleasing the apartment too). It is also your obligation to make sure that your subtenant totally understands his obligations and rights in his new home. This is important because you are answerable for any breach committed by your subtenant. You may download a house rental agreement sample or a simple rental agreement form online from our website.
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Charging a Sum that is Legally Acceptable for a Sublease
As a sub-landlord (the person leasing out a rental property than he originally rented), you cannot just impose any rent you deem fit on your subtenant just because you want to rake in some extra bucks. Whatever amount you are charging must not be more than your actual rent. Say, for instance, if your rent is $2000, you cannot charge above that. If you charge more than that, you will be breaching terms that are contained in the original lease and you may also breach local jurisdiction laws.
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The subleasing form can easily be obtained from forms.legal for free.