Subletting Clause
in Your Lease
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Statutes verified against primary state sources
Every statute cited here was read in its published text before this page went live: on the state's own site where that site can be reached, otherwise on a republished copy of the code. Court decisions are quoted from the published opinion and linked to it, so you can read the original yourself.
Primary sourcesNot legal advice
Content verified against primary state statutes before publicationLast updated: October 2026
What it actually means, what Florida law says, what's specific to Miami - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- No section we read in Florida's Chapter 83, Part II covers subleases, assignment or landlord consent.
- If your lease requires consent, no section we read makes the landlord be reasonable or reply by a date.
- If your lease says nothing about subletting, you may generally transfer the unit.
- You stay fully liable for rent and for damage your subtenant causes.
- No Miami rule we read adds to sublet consent, but its vacation-rental ordinances restrict short-term renting.
Copy and send: Before anyone moves in, once you have read your lease's subletting clause
Ask to sublet
Fill in the brackets and keep a copy of what you send.
How Florida compares
Landlord's deadline to answer a written sublet request, state by state
30 daysNo figureGuide coming soonYou are here
See all 25 cities as a chart
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Understanding the Subletting Clause
This page is for Miami renters who want to sublet, or who are about to sign a lease with a subletting clause. That clause is the place to look, and the best time to fix it is before you sign.
Ask for a reply date, a fixed fee and a promise that consent will not be unreasonably withheld. Many Miami rentals are condo units, so the building's association rules can matter as much as your landlord's answer.
What renters assume
A landlord has to be reasonable, so a clean, employed, credit-checked replacement cannot just be turned down.
What is actually true
No section we read in Florida's residential tenancy law requires a landlord to be reasonable or to answer by any date, which leaves your subletting clause as the document that answers it.
Read the chart the honest way: Miami sits with the silent states. A New York City tenant gets an answer within 30 days, and a Chicago landlord must accept a reasonable sublease without charging a single extra fee - Florida gives you neither, only what you negotiated at signing.
Sublet Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Miami, FL
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
Occupancy of Premises — Tenant shall not assign nor underlet any part or the whole of the premises, nor shall permit the premises to be occupied for a period longer than a temporary visit by anyone except the individuals specifically named in the first paragraph of this tenancy, their spouses, and any children born to them hereafter, without first obtaining on each occasion the assent in writing of Landlord.
Quoted from the published opinion in Slavin v. Rent Control Board of Brookline, 406 Mass. 458, 548 N.E.2d 1226 (1990). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
What the 4 highlighted phrases mean
“any part or the whole of the premises”
Part II of Chapter 83 - Florida's residential landlord and tenant law - has no provision on subleases, assignment, or landlord consent to a sublet, so the size of what you rent out changes nothing. A spare room and the whole apartment are the same question here, and our Florida record leaves the answer to your lease paragraph.
See the example
“by anyone except the individuals specifically named”
Two different Florida outcomes hide behind a list like this one, and which you get depends on your own document. Where the lease is silent, a tenant may generally transfer the leasehold. Where the lease prohibits or conditions it, as this one does, the clause is enforceable as written. Read the paragraph before assuming either way.
See the example
“their spouses”
Notice that the lease, not the code, is drawing the household line. Our Florida record finds no statute requiring a landlord to be reasonable or to respond within any number of days, so look to the paragraph you signed for both the list of who may live there and the process for changing it. This lease carves out spouses by name, and our Florida record has nothing to say about who may live in the unit - so where a lease omits that carve-out, the lease is what you are left arguing from.
See the example
“without first obtaining”
Getting consent first is the part that protects you, not only the landlord. Under a Florida sublease the original tenant remains fully liable to the landlord for rent and for damage caused by the subtenant - so an arrangement the landlord never approved leaves you carrying every risk without the one document that records what was agreed.
See the example
The landlord did not have to be reasonable, and the tenant lost. The Supreme Judicial Court read this clause and refused to add anything to it: a residential lease requiring the landlord's written assent before an assignment, an underletting or an additional occupant carries no implied duty to act reasonably. Absent express lease language - or a statute - saying consent will not be unreasonably withheld, the landlord may refuse arbitrarily, so a blanket refusal to accept any replacement occupant did not excuse the tenant's breach. The annulment of the rent board's decision was affirmed and the certificate of eviction ordered to issue. The court knew it was declining a trend: it found no demonstrable trend involving residential leases, reasoned that in a rent-controlled town a landlord has little economic incentive to withhold consent, warned that the opposite rule would generate a plethora of litigation, and handed the question to the Legislature - noting in a footnote that four states had already legislated, New York's Real Property Law § 226-b among them. Two limits belong with the holding. The disposition was not a clean sweep: the court reversed the Appellate Division's award of double costs and attorneys' fees even as it affirmed the annulment. And the closing footnote says the court makes no suggestion about the rule it might adopt in other contexts - this is a rule about residential leases and nothing wider.
How this state's law treats this clause
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Florida Law on Subletting Clause
- Part II of Chapter 83, Florida's residential landlord and tenant law, has no provision on subleases, assignment, or landlord consent to a sublet.
- Where the lease is silent, a tenant may generally transfer the leasehold; where the lease prohibits or conditions it, that clause is enforceable.
- Florida's residential tenancy law does not require a landlord to be reasonable or to respond within any number of days.
- Under a sublease the original tenant remains fully liable to the landlord for rent and for damage caused by the subtenant.
Verify the current text in your state's landlord-tenant statutes.
Florida's residential landlord and tenant law is Part II of Chapter 83. Our record of that part finds four points that matter for a sublet:
- No sublet section. No section we read covers subleases, assignment or landlord consent to a sublet.
- A silent lease. Where the lease says nothing about subletting, a tenant may generally transfer the leasehold.
- A lease that limits it. Where the lease bans subletting or sets conditions, that clause is enforceable.
- Your liability. Under a sublease you stay fully liable to the landlord for rent and for damage your subtenant causes.
Subletting does not change your own place in the lease. You are still the tenant, so your deposit, repair and notice rights stay yours. Laws change, so check the current text of Chapter 83 before you rely on this.
What's Specific to Miami
Our record of Miami's rules finds nothing that adds to sublet consent. The city's short-term-rental and vacation-rental ordinances restrict transient renting but do not govern a landlord's answer to a sublet request.
The condo layer matters more. Many Miami rentals are individually owned units in Brickell, Edgewater and Downtown, where the association may screen every occupant and limit how often a unit can be re-rented. A landlord who says yes may not be able to deliver.
That gives you a path instead of a ban. Ask for consent not to be unreasonably withheld, since no section we read sets that standard.
Where a lease bans subletting, that clause is enforceable. Raise it before you sign, while you still have leverage.
No section we read sets one. Ask for a written answer within a set number of days, with silence counting as approval.
No section we read caps a sublet fee. Ask for a fixed dollar amount written into the lease.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Consent in the landlord's sole discretion
No section we read sets a reasonableness test. A sole-discretion clause takes its meaning from the lease alone, so change it before you sign.
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Unapproved sublet as instant default
Some Miami leases treat any unapproved occupant as an immediate default with no chance to cure. One roommate swap can then become an eviction filing instead of a warning.
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Guest limits used as a trap
A clause capping guests at a few nights can turn a visiting partner into an unapproved subtenant. Get the allowed number of nights in writing.
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A landlord's yes without the condo's
In a condo, the association screens occupants separately from your landlord. Get its requirements before you promise anyone a move-in date.
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An Airbnb listing of your unit
Many Miami leases ban short-term rentals, many condo associations add minimum-stay rules, and city vacation-rental ordinances restrict transient renting. Listing anyway risks eviction and a city fine.
Your Rights as a Miami Tenant
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Sublet when the lease is silent
If your lease never mentions subletting, you may generally transfer the unit. Get the landlord's acknowledgment in writing anyway.
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A written yes you can point to
A signed approval naming your subtenant and the dates is your proof if the landlord later calls the same sublet a violation.
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Keep your own tenant rights
A sublease does not take your place in the lease. Your deposit, repair and notice rights stay yours for the full term.
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Lease terms you negotiate
The sublet paragraph is as negotiable as the rent. A reply date and a reasonableness standard cost nothing to ask for at signing.
What To Do - Step by Step
Find the sublet paragraph
Search your lease for "sublet", "assignment" and "occupant". That paragraph decides whether you need consent.
Ask in writing
Email your subtenant's name, the dates and the rent. With no deadline in the sections we read, a dated paper trail is how you apply pressure.
Follow up on silence
No section we read makes silence a yes. Resend in the same thread and keep every dated message.
Get the approval signed
A leasing agent's verbal yes is worth little. Ask for a sublease addendum naming your subtenant and the dates before keys change hands.
Ask for a release if refused
A plain sublet leaves you fully liable, so ask for a buyout or an assignment that releases you.
Check the text, then get advice
Read the current text of Chapter 83 before you rely on this page. Legal Services of Greater Miami can review the clause.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Subletting rules near Florida
The same clause in the nearest states we cover.
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