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What you Need to Know about Summer Sublets

Are you subletting your apartment for the summer? If so, here are some important tips:

What's a subletter?  A subletter is a substitute tenant who lives in your apartment (or rental house) and pays your share of the rent for a period of time when you’re not living there. Most leases allow subletting, but usually require notification and approval by the landlord. Check your lease and talk to your landlord before arranging a summer sublet! Sometimes, the other tenants in the apartment must also approve the subletter before the landlord will allow that person to move in.

Because there are typically more off-campus students leaving Boone in the summer than there are individuals who are looking for a place to live during the summer, finding a subletter is not guaranteed. You may want to consider paying part of the rent or offering some other benefit to attract a subletter.  Remember, under your lease, you are responsible for the rent being paid on your apartment for the full term of your lease, regardless of whether you are living there or not.

Paperwork and legal responsibilities:  Requirements and procedures for subletting vary from one rental company to the next. Often, regardless of the paperwork the subletter signs with the landlord, the original tenant remains legally and financially responsible for rent and other obligations under the lease. In other words, if your subletter breaks a rule, damages the rental property, or doesn’t pay rent, you could be charged for the amounts due. Make sure your subletter understands their responsibilities, is reliable, and is financially able to pay the rent.

Take care of the details:  Be sure to talk to you subletter about what will happen with any furniture or other property of yours that will remain in the apartment over the summer and about the subletter’s responsibilities at the end of the term of the sublet. You should also document the condition of your apartment by taking pictures before you leave for the summer. If you are leaving property in the apartment for your subletter to use, take photos and inventory your property.

Make sure you have your subletter’s full name and complete contact information. Don’t rely on social media as your only method of communicating with your subletter; be sure you have an email address, cellphone number, home phone, and mailing address for your subletter, as well.

Putting your agreement with the subletter in writing will help ensure that you both understand the details and will make your agreement easier to enforce if there are problems. This can be a simple document that you type up yourself.

For more information about subletting, make an appointment for free, confidential legal advice through the Student Legal Clinic located on the third floor of the Plemmons Student Union. Just call (828) 262-8284 to schedule a meeting.

For help finding a subletter or a place to live during the summer, go to offcampushousing.appstate.edu, where you can post and view ads for summer subleases.