8 Steps to Successfully Sublet Your Apartment

By Sammy K

Have an awesome, unexpected internship come up before your lease is up? Are you feeling left in a bind? Consider subletting your room. This gets you out of your obligation, for the most part. Follow these steps for a smooth sublet process.

1. Inform your roommate and landlord of the situation. Make sure you double check your lease to ensure that subletting is allowable.
2. Put out feelers for potential renters that can take your space. Adding incentives makes your space look a lot more attractive. Example: Willing to pay for deposit or lease takeover fees.
3. Invite your picks over to show the place and interview. It is crucial that your roommate is a part of this, because they are the one that will be living with the new person. Pick a day and time that works around everyone’s schedule.
4. Narrow your choices down to a handful of candidates and start considering pros and cons of each one. Do their lifestyles fit with your roommate’s or the building in general? Will they get along with your roommate? It’s pertinent to consider everything that could go wrong. It’s better to prepare for the event that it doesn’t work out and you won’t be leaving yourself blindsided.
5. Once you have a few people picked out, conduct a little research on them. Credit checks should be high on your list to check before allowing them to move in. Your potential tenant can usually get a free credit report that you can check out. Remember, they may not want to give that information up, and that’s okay, but it’s usually for peace of mind and determining whether they will live up to their obligations. If you can’t get a credit check, ask for past landlord information so that you can get a general idea of how their payment history is.
6. Collect references. As stated before, contacting previous landlords and roommates is a great set of references. If the landlord gives them a stellar report about paying their rent on time, you can usually trust it. Roommates are typically biased opinions, so don’t weigh it too heavily if the roommate has a bit of an issue with their ex roommate.
7. Pick the candidate best for this situation. Great references? Check. Great credit? Check. Compatible personality for roommate? Check. This gives you the green light to go ahead.
8. Offer your spot to them. If they can take it, awesome. In case they can’t, it’s best to have a few lined up and ready to move in so you can ensure your spot is filled and you can get going to your new internship (or whatever it is that you need to leave for).

Subletting can be frustrating and a tedious process, but taking the necessary steps and precautions can make it worth it in the end. By taking these small steps, you’re ensuring a good outcome for everyone!

Share this article: