Create Your Sublease Agreement
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Subletting your apartment for a semester, a work assignment or a few months away? You become your subtenant's landlord while staying on the hook to yours. This form builds a residential sublease that respects your master lease, gets the landlord's consent on paper where your lease or state requires it, handles the deposit under your state's rules, and ends with a checklist for everything that should happen before anyone moves in.
- Residential sublease for a tenant subletting their home
- Landlord Consent to Sublease page when your lease or state requires it
- New York §226-b consent request letter with the 30-day deemed-consent date
- Term guard: the sublease ends before your own lease does
- Master lease incorporated by reference
- Deposit clause with your state's return deadline and penalty
- Condition report, house rules, furnishings and lead-paint annexes
- "Before Anyone Moves In" checklist page
- Instant PDF download
- 10
- Steps
- 50
- States Covered
- 2026
- Updated
What's Included in This Sublease Form
A sublease sits inside your own lease: your landlord, you, and your subtenant each have a link in the chain. This form builds every document that chain needs.
The Residential Sublease Agreement
The parties, the master lease and the consent basis, the term and rent, the deposit under your state's statute, the master lease incorporated by reference, house rules, and a boxed explanation of who answers to whom. Signed by you and your subtenant.
The Landlord Consent Page
A standalone page your landlord signs when the lease requires consent, when it prohibits subletting, or when state law requires consent on a silent lease. Landlords: this is the page your tenant brings you.
New York's §226-b Request Letter
In New York buildings of four or more units, the consent request letter with the contents the statute lists, the certified-mail instruction, and the date your landlord's 30 days to respond runs out.
Annexes and the Move-In Checklist
A condition report, house rules, a furnishings list and, where it applies, the federal lead-paint disclosure — then the "Before Anyone Moves In" checklist: consent proof, deposit duties, condition, master lease copy, insurance, local flags.
The Process, In Order
A clean sublease has one order of operations: consent → signed sublease → deposit and condition report → move-in.
Confirm It's a Sublease
You're moving out and someone takes your place for months, not nights. Short-term stays under 30 days and commercial space aren't subleases this form writes; if you're staying and sharing, the Room Rental Agreement fits better.
Answer Exactly What Your Lease Says
Permits, requires consent, prohibits, or silent — plus your state's default and, in New York, the building size. The form decides which consent paperwork you need.
Set Dates Inside Your Lease
The sublease must end before your own lease does. If your lease is month-to-month, the form warns you that your own tenancy could end first.
Take the Deposit by the Rules
Enter the deposit and the form applies your state's cap, return deadline and penalty, then prints the condition report so both of you record the home's state at move-in.
Doing It the Right Way
Subletting is legal almost everywhere on the right consent basis — and risky on the wrong one. These rules keep you out of a dispute with your own landlord.
Get Consent Before Anyone Moves In
Where consent is required, a sublease signed first is a breach of your lease. The checklist puts signed consent as step one; if your lease prohibits subletting, the form says so plainly and generates the consent page rather than working around the clause.
End Before Your Lease Ends
A sublease running to the last day of your lease is an assignment, with a different liability structure. The form keeps at least a day between the two.
You Hold the Deposit Now
Caps, deadlines and penalties apply to you as the sublandlord: in New York, missing the 14-day itemized statement forfeits the right to keep any of the deposit (GOL §7-108); Georgia trebles wrongful retention (O.C.G.A. §44-7-35).
Check Local and Rent-Regulated Rules
Rent-stabilized units in New York and rent-controlled units in San Francisco and Los Angeles carry their own sublet rules. The form flags them; it doesn't compute a regulated rent.
You Stay Liable to Your Landlord
Subletting transfers possession, not obligations. If your subtenant doesn't pay or damages the home, your landlord still looks to you — and if your lease ends, the sublease ends with it. The sublease says so in a boxed disclosure both of you sign.
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Sublease Agreement
- Residential sublease for a tenant subletting their home
- Landlord Consent to Sublease page when your lease or state requires it
- New York §226-b consent request letter with the 30-day deemed-consent date
- Term guard: the sublease ends before your own lease does
- Master lease incorporated by reference
- Deposit clause with your state's return deadline and penalty
- Condition report, house rules, furnishings and lead-paint annexes
- "Before Anyone Moves In" checklist page
- Instant PDF download
Did you know?
Did you know?
Whether you can sublet depends on three layers: your lease, your state's default, and in one state a statutory right to ask. Texas requires the landlord's prior consent even if the lease says nothing (Prop. Code §91.005), and Georgia reaches the same result. New York goes the other way for tenants in buildings of four or more units: you may request consent by certified mail, the landlord may not unreasonably refuse, and 30 days of silence counts as yes (RPL §226-b). And timing matters as much as permission — a sublease that runs to the very last day of your own lease isn't a sublease at all in the eyes of the law, but an assignment of your whole remaining term. This form walks all three layers for your state and keeps the dates inside your lease.
Featured — Spotlight
Tailored to your state's sublease rules.
Pick your state and the form loads the rules that decide a sublease: whether the landlord's consent is required on a silent lease (Texas §91.005 and Georgia yes; most states no), New York's §226-b request-and-deemed-consent process for buildings of four or more units, the deposit cap, return deadline and penalty you take on as sublandlord (all 50 states + DC), and the federal lead-paint disclosure for pre-1978 homes on subleases over 100 days. Rent-regulated units and local rules in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago are flagged where they apply.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about subleasing a residential rental
Almost always, on the right consent basis. Your lease may permit it, require the landlord's consent, prohibit it, or say nothing. Some states require consent even on a silent lease — Texas does (Prop. Code §91.005), and so does Georgia. New York gives tenants in buildings of four or more units a right to request consent that the landlord may not unreasonably withhold (RPL §226-b). The form works through all three layers for your state and generates the consent paperwork where it's needed.
Whether you stay. If you move out and someone takes your place for a period, that's a sublease. If you stay and share the home, that's a roommate arrangement — use the Room Rental Agreement instead. And if the sublease runs to the last day of your own lease, the law generally treats it as an assignment, which is why this form makes the sublease end earlier.
In a building with four or more units, a tenant may ask the landlord in writing, by certified mail, for consent to sublet, with the information the statute lists. The landlord may not unreasonably withhold consent; if the landlord doesn't respond within 30 days, consent is deemed given (RPL §226-b). The form generates the request letter and computes the 30-day date from your planned mailing date.
This form is prepared by the tenant who is subletting, and it includes a Landlord Consent to Sublease page for you to sign when consent is required. The sublease incorporates your lease by reference and states that your tenant stays fully liable to you, so your lease terms and your claim against your tenant are unchanged.
No. Stays under 30 days are a separately regulated short-term-rental activity in many cities and are prohibited by many leases. This form writes residential subleases measured in months and stops if you select short-term rental. This is a self-help document tool, not legal advice.
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Everything included
- Unlimited legal-form generation
- Unlimited guide unlocks across every state
- Complete legal kits included with membership
- Completed PDFs stay in your library
- Cancel any time