Answer a sublet request in writing, within your state’s deadline, whatever your answer is. In New York, a landlord who does not respond to a properly made sublet request within 30 days is deemed to have consented to it (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 226-b). Silence is not a way of saying no.
Then work out which of the three arrangements you are actually being asked about, because landlords answer the wrong question surprisingly often.
Sublease, assignment, roommate
A sublease puts a new person in the unit under an agreement with your tenant. Your tenant stays on the hook for the rent and the condition of the unit. You collect from your tenant, not from the subtenant.
An assignment transfers the tenant’s whole interest to somebody else. The original tenant steps out, the new person steps in, and unless your consent document says otherwise you may have given up your claim against the person you originally screened.
A roommate moves in alongside the tenant, who stays. That is an occupancy question governed by your lease’s occupancy clause, not a sublet, though tenants describe it as one.
These have different consequences. Approving what you thought was a roommate and signing what was actually an assignment is how a landlord ends up with no recourse against the tenant who signed the lease.
Where the tenant has a statutory right
In several states a lease clause flatly banning sublets does not hold, or holds only up to a point.
New York is the clearest example. A tenant in a dwelling with four or more residential units may sublease with the landlord’s consent, which shall not be unreasonably withheld (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 226-b). The request goes by certified mail, return receipt requested, and has to include the term, the proposed subtenant’s name and address, the reason, the tenant’s address during the sublease, the written consent of any cotenant or guarantor, and a copy of the proposed sublease. The landlord may ask for additional information within 10 days, and must send written consent or the reasons for refusal within 30 days.
Other states approach it through the general rule that consent may not be unreasonably withheld where the lease requires consent. What counts as reasonable is decided case by case, which means the reason you give matters.
This is general information, not legal advice. Rules change and local ordinances vary. Confirm current requirements with your city, county, or an attorney before you act.
Reasonable and unreasonable reasons to refuse
Reasonable, in most readings:
- The proposed subtenant does not meet the same written screening criteria you apply to every applicant
- The sublease would exceed the occupancy limits in the lease or in local code
- The proposed use is different, a short-term rental for instance, where the lease prohibits it
- The tenant is in default on rent
Unreasonable, and in some cases unlawful:
- Any reason connected to a protected characteristic, which is a fair housing violation whatever else it is
- Refusing without giving a reason, in a state that requires you to give one
- Refusing because you would rather re-rent at a higher rent
Screen the proposed subtenant exactly as you screen an applicant, using the same written criteria. That is both the fair answer and the defensible one. Tenant screening is the same process it always is, and the criteria should already exist in writing before this request arrives.
Short-term rental subletting
Most sublet fights in the last decade have been about nightly rentals, not roommates.
Handle it in the lease rather than in an argument. A clause that names the behavior directly, no rental or license of the premises for periods of less than 30 days, no listing of the premises on a short-term rental platform, is clearer than a general sublet ban and easier to enforce.
Local law often does the work for you here, since many cities require a permit for short-term rentals and some prohibit them in rental units entirely. Check the municipal code before you decide how strict to be.
If you say yes, paper it properly
Four documents, and none of them is optional:
- Your written consent, naming the subtenant, the term, and the fact that consent to this sublease is not consent to any future one.
- A statement that the original tenant remains fully liable for rent, damage, and every other obligation under the lease.
- A copy of the sublease itself, for your file.
- A condition record of the unit as it stands at handover, which is what settles the argument when the sublease ends. The move-in checklist that settles most deposit disputes applies here exactly as it does at move-in.
Keep collecting rent from your tenant. Taking rent directly from the subtenant can look like you have created a tenancy with them, which is the outcome the sublease structure exists to avoid.
If you say no
Say it in writing, within the deadline, with the reason stated. A refusal with no reason is the weakest possible position in a state that requires reasonableness.
Then expect the tenant’s next move, which is often to leave anyway. That takes you into different territory: what a departing tenant owes, and what you have to do to recover it. California limits recovery by the amount the tenant proves could have been reasonably avoided (Cal. Civ. Code § 1951.2), so re-renting promptly is part of the calculation. When a tenant breaks a lease early covers the whole decision, and keeping a deposit when a tenant breaks the lease covers the deposit half of it.