Subletting Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what Wisconsin law says, what's specific to Milwaukee - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- The Wisconsin statutes and rules we read set no deadline for a landlord to answer a written sublet request, and no standard for when consent may be refused. The sublet paragraph of the lease is the document that answers both.
- Wis. Stat. § 704.09(1) decides who needs permission. A tenant at will or a periodic tenant under a tenancy less than year-to-year "may not assign or sublease except with the agreement or consent of the landlord", while any other tenant's interest "may be transferred except as the lease expressly restricts power to transfer."
- A restriction is read narrowly. § 704.09(1) construes a lease restriction on transfer to apply to voluntary transfer alone, unless the lease expressly restricts transfer by operation of law, and under § 704.09(5) consent to one transfer is not consent to later ones.
- Subletting does not end the original tenant's liability. § 704.09(2) keeps the transferring tenant bound by the lease's contractual obligations absent an express release or a contrary lease provision, and § 704.25(5) can put a holdover subtenant's damages on the original tenant.
- In Milwaukee, § 200-21.5 has the owner keep a current list of the tenants and sublessees authorized to occupy the building. Wis. Stat. § 66.0104(2)(f) provides that no city may impose an occupancy or transfer of tenancy fee on a rental unit.
Understanding the Subletting Clause
Subletting a Milwaukee apartment for a summer or a work posting starts with one question: do you need the landlord's yes at all? Wisconsin answers by the kind of tenancy.
Under Wis. Stat. § 704.09(1), a tenant at will or a periodic tenant under a tenancy less than year-to-year needs the landlord's agreement or consent, and any other tenant's interest may be transferred except as the lease expressly restricts it.
On how long a landlord may take to answer, the Wisconsin statutes and rules we read set no deadline, and no standard for a refusal. The sublet paragraph you signed is the document that answers both.
Whatever the answer, § 704.09(2) keeps the original tenant bound unless there is an express release or a contrary lease provision.
The Wisconsin text behind this page is the Legislature's own PDF of Chapter 704 as archived on May 24, 2026. Read the current text on docs.legis.wisconsin.gov before you rely on it.
What renters assume
That a Milwaukee landlord must reply to a sublet request within a fixed number of days under Wisconsin law, and must have a good reason to say no.
What is actually true
The Wisconsin statutes and rules we read set no reply period and no standard for refusing consent. New York City's row in the comparison carries 30 days.
Milwaukee's reads no deadline; lease may restrict, which leaves the sublet paragraph you signed as the document that answers it.
The bars in the comparison on this page measure a landlord's deadline to answer a written sublet request. One of the 22 rows carries a figure: New York City, at 30 days. The other 21 rows are blank.
Eleven of those read no statute: Austin, Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, Phoenix, Denver, Miami, Nashville, Philadelphia, Boston and Las Vegas. Chicago and Portland read no deadline.
Washington, DC reads no deadline, lease may bar it, Columbus no statute; lease controls, Newark no deadline; city bars short-term sublets and Detroit no deadline; lease controls. Charlotte, Baltimore and Minneapolis read no set deadline.
Milwaukee's row reads no deadline; lease may restrict. The second half comes from § 704.09(1): outside a tenancy at will or a periodic tenancy less than year-to-year, a tenant's interest may be transferred except as the lease expressly restricts it.
Plain English Version
Whether you need your landlord's permission to sublet in Wisconsin depends on your tenancy. A tenant at will, or a periodic tenant under a tenancy shorter than year-to-year, needs the landlord's agreement or consent.
Other tenants may sublet unless the lease expressly restricts it. The Wisconsin sections we read give the landlord no deadline to answer and no standard for saying no.
Subletting does not release you from the lease, and if your subtenant stays past its end, the landlord may recover damages from you where it has not been taking rent from the subtenant directly.
Sublet Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Milwaukee, WI
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.
“the premises, nor shall permit the premises”
This sentence restricts transfer in so many words, and Wisconsin's transfer section turns on exactly that. Under § 704.09(1), the interest of a tenant other than a tenant at will or a periodic tenant under a tenancy less than year-to-year “may be transferred except as the lease expressly restricts power to transfer.” An express restriction like this one is the term the statute defers to.
“than a temporary visit by anyone except”
Here the clause turns from transfers to occupants. Wisconsin's transfer section speaks of assigning and subleasing, and Milwaukee's code speaks of who is authorized to be there. § 200-21.5 requires the owner of residential rental property to keep a current list of all tenants and sublessees authorized to occupy the building, available to the city within 24 hours of a written request.
“the individuals specifically named in the first paragraph of”
The named individuals are the people Wisconsin keeps answerable. § 704.09(2) says that absent an express release or a contrary provision in the lease, “transfer or consent to transfer does not relieve the transferring party of any contractual obligations under the lease”. A landlord's yes to a subtenant leaves the names in the first paragraph where they were.
“on each occasion”
Wisconsin writes this rule into its statute. Under § 704.09(5), where a lease restricts transfer, “consent to a transfer or waiver of a breach of the restriction is not a consent or waiver as to any subsequent transfers.” The Massachusetts court read this demand for assent as written and implied no duty to be reasonable. That is Massachusetts law, and the Wisconsin sections our record read set no standard for a refusal.
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.
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.
Wisconsin Law on Subletting Clause
- A restriction has to be written into the lease, and it is read narrowly. Wis. Stat. § 704.09(1) provides that the interest of a tenant other than a tenant at will or a periodic tenant under a tenancy shorter than year-to-year "may be transferred except as the lease expressly restricts power to transfer", and that "A lease restriction on transfer is construed to apply only to voluntary transfer unless there is an express restriction on transfer by operation of law." Under § 704.09(5), where a lease restricts transfer, "consent to a transfer or waiver of a breach of the restriction is not a consent or waiver as to any subsequent transfers."
- The original tenant stays liable. Section 704.09(2) provides that "In the absence of an express release or a contrary provision in the lease, transfer or consent to transfer does not relieve the transferring party of any contractual obligations under the lease", and § 704.09(3) makes lease covenants that are not personal to the original parties "enforceable by or against the successors in interest of any party to the lease."
- A subtenant who stays past the end of the lease can cost the original tenant. Wis. Stat. § 704.25(5) lets the landlord either hold the subtenant, or the original tenant if he or she participated in the holding over, as a periodic tenant, or "Remove any person in possession and recover damages from the assignee or subtenant or, if the landlord has not been accepting rent directly from the assignee or subtenant, from the original tenant."
- A tenant who sublets a unit he or she does not live in is a landlord under the state's rental practices rules. Wis. Admin. Code § ATCP 134.02(5) defines "Landlord" as the owner or lessor of a dwelling unit and any agent acting on the owner's or lessor's behalf, and provides that "The term includes sublessors, other than persons subleasing individual units occupied by them." A person subleasing a unit he or she occupies falls outside that definition.
Sources include Wis. Stat. § 704.09; Wis. Stat. § 704.25(5); Wis. Admin. Code § ATCP 134.02(5); Wis. Stat. § 66.0104(2)(f); Wis. Stat. § 66.0104(2)(d); Wis. Stat. § 66.0104(3)(b); Milwaukee Code of Ordinances § 200-21.5 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Wisconsin's transfer section starts with who needs permission. Wis. Stat. § 704.09(1) says "A tenant under a tenancy at will or any periodic tenancy less than year-to-year may not assign or sublease except with the agreement or consent of the landlord." The interest of any other tenant "may be transferred except as the lease expressly restricts power to transfer."
That puts weight on the lease's own words. A restriction has to be written in, and § 704.09(1) reads it narrowly: a lease restriction on transfer is construed to apply to voluntary transfer alone, unless there is an express restriction on transfer by operation of law.
The statutes and rules we read set no deadline for a landlord to answer a written sublet request, and no standard for when consent may be refused. That leaves the sublet paragraph of the lease as the document that answers both questions.
Consent does not carry forward. Under § 704.09(5), where a lease restricts transfer, "consent to a transfer or waiver of a breach of the restriction is not a consent or waiver as to any subsequent transfers." A yes for one summer is not a yes for the next.
The original tenant stays liable. § 704.09(2) says "In the absence of an express release or a contrary provision in the lease, transfer or consent to transfer does not relieve the transferring party of any contractual obligations under the lease". Under § 704.09(3), covenants not personal to the original parties are "enforceable by or against the successors in interest of any party to the lease."
A subtenant who stays too long can cost you. Under § 704.25(5), if a subtenant holds over after the lease expires, the landlord may hold the subtenant, or an original tenant who participated in the holding over, as a periodic tenant.
The landlord may instead remove any person in possession and recover damages from the subtenant, or from the original tenant where it has not been accepting rent directly from the subtenant.
Subletting a unit you do not live in changes your role. Wis. Admin. Code § ATCP 134.02(5) defines a landlord to include sublessors, "other than persons subleasing individual units occupied by them." Read each section's current text on docs.legis.wisconsin.gov, since the copies behind this page are archived ones.
Wisconsin Tenant Protections
Five state rules bear on a Milwaukee sublet, and none of them sets a reply date. First, Wis. Stat. § 704.09(1) requires the landlord's agreement or consent before a tenant at will or a periodic tenant under a tenancy less than year-to-year may assign or sublease.
Any other tenant's interest may be transferred except as the lease expressly restricts power to transfer.
Second, a lease restriction on transfer is construed to apply to voluntary transfer alone unless there is an express restriction on transfer by operation of law, and under § 704.09(5) consent to one transfer is not consent to later ones. Third, § 704.09(2) keeps the transferring tenant bound by the lease's contractual obligations absent an express release or a contrary lease provision.
Fourth, under § 704.25(5) a landlord facing a subtenant who holds over may recover damages from the original tenant where the landlord has not been accepting rent directly from the subtenant. Fifth, ATCP 134.02(5) counts a sublessor as a landlord, other than a person subleasing a unit he or she occupies.
In Milwaukee, § 200-21.5 requires the owner of residential rental property to keep a current list of tenants and sublessees authorized to occupy the building, available to department personnel within 24 hours of a written request. Wis. Stat. § 66.0104(2)(f) provides that no city may impose an occupancy or transfer of tenancy fee on a rental unit. Read the current text of each before relying on it.
What's Specific to Milwaukee
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.
On subletting, the Milwaukee sections we read speak to the owner's paperwork rather than to the tenant's request. Our record of the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances chapters we opened, Chapter 200, Chapter 275 and the zoning definitions in § 295-201, finds no Milwaukee section giving a landlord a deadline to answer a sublet request or setting a sublet approval procedure.
The section in that reading that names sublessees is § 200-21.5. It requires the owner of any residential rental property to "maintain a current list of all tenants and sublessees authorized to occupy the building or buildings on such property".
The owner must make the list available to department personnel within 24 hours of a written request.
The word authorized is worth reading beside your lease. The list covers sublessees authorized to occupy the building, and a dated written approval is the plainest record that your subtenant is one of them.
The duty to keep the list is the owner's, owed to the city, not a tenant's deadline.
State law limits what a city may ask landlords for. Wis. Stat. § 66.0104(2)(d)2. provides that no city may enact an ordinance requiring a landlord to communicate to the city any information concerning the landlord or a tenant.
The exceptions are information required under federal or state law, or required of all residential real property owners.
Under § 66.0104(3)(b), an ordinance in effect on March 1, 2014 that is inconsistent with sub. (2)(c) or (d) does not apply and may not be enforced.
The Milwaukee file we read does not show when § 200-21.5 was enacted. We describe it as enacted and do not predict how § 66.0104 would apply to it.
A second state rule speaks to fees. § 66.0104(2)(f) says "No city, village, town, or county may impose an occupancy or transfer of tenancy fee on a rental unit." It binds cities. Our record does not reach what a landlord may charge for approving a sublet, which leaves any such fee as a term of the lease to read.
The ordinances were read in the City Clerk's chapter files on city.milwaukee.gov as archived by the Internet Archive. Chapter 200 Subchapter 3 is a copy dated July 25, 2026, with page revision dates from February 6, 2024 to December 17, 2024.
None of the files prints a codified through line, so check the current text on the city's site.
The Wisconsin statutes and rules we read set no deadline for an answer. A reply date written into the clause is a term both sides have signed.
Worth asking for. § 704.09(2) keeps the original tenant bound by the lease's contractual obligations absent an express release or a contrary provision in the lease.
Not where the lease restricts transfer. Under § 704.09(5), consent to a transfer "is not a consent or waiver as to any subsequent transfers."
§ 704.25(5) lets the landlord recover damages from the original tenant where the landlord has not been accepting rent directly from the subtenant.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- Wis. Stat. § 704.09; Wis. Stat. § 704.25(5); Wis. Admin. Code § ATCP 134.02(5); Wis. Stat. § 66.0104(2)(f); Wis. Stat. § 66.0104(2)(d); Wis. Stat. § 66.0104(3)(b); Milwaukee Code of Ordinances § 200-21.5, read on web.archive.org. The Wisconsin Legislature's PDF of Chapter 704, in an archived copy dated May 24, 2026, marks the statutes as updated through 2025 Wisconsin Act 170 and in effect on May 22, 2026.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Consent left wholly to the landlord
The Wisconsin sections we read set no standard for refusing consent and no reply period. A clause leaving consent entirely to the landlord is the term to negotiate before signing.
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A sublet with no release
§ 704.09(2) keeps you bound by the lease's contractual obligations after a sublet, absent an express release or a contrary lease provision. Rent your subtenant misses can still be owed under your lease.
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Last year's yes relied on again
§ 704.09(5) says consent to a transfer is not consent to any later one where the lease restricts transfer. Ask again, in writing, each time.
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A subtenant with no move-out date
Under § 704.25(5), a holdover by your subtenant can lead to damages against you where the landlord has not been taking rent from the subtenant directly.
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Subletting a unit you have left
ATCP 134.02(5) counts a sublessor as a landlord, other than a person subleasing a unit he or she occupies. Subletting a place you no longer live in puts you inside that definition.
Your Rights as a Milwaukee Tenant
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Transfer unless the lease restricts it
Under § 704.09(1), the interest of a tenant other than a tenant at will or a periodic tenant under a tenancy less than year-to-year "may be transferred except as the lease expressly restricts power to transfer."
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Restrictions read narrowly
§ 704.09(1) construes a lease restriction on transfer to apply to voluntary transfer alone, unless there is an express restriction on transfer by operation of law.
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Covenants that follow the lease
§ 704.09(3) makes lease covenants not personal to the original parties enforceable by or against the successors in interest of any party to the lease.
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No city transfer fee
Wis. Stat. § 66.0104(2)(f) provides that no city, village, town or county may impose an occupancy or transfer of tenancy fee on a rental unit.
What To Do - Step by Step
Find out which kind of tenant you are
§ 704.09(1) requires the landlord's agreement or consent for a tenant at will or a periodic tenant under a tenancy less than year-to-year. Other tenants look to the lease's express restriction.
Read the sublet paragraph before asking
Look for whether assent is required, any reply date and any release. The Wisconsin sections we read set no deadline, which leaves the paragraph's own words as the text that answers it.
Ask in writing and date the request
Give the subtenant's name, the dates and the rent. Milwaukee's § 200-21.5 list covers sublessees authorized to occupy the building, and a dated approval records yours.
Ask for a release, or plan as if none
§ 704.09(2) keeps the original tenant bound absent an express release or a contrary lease provision. Keep track of the rent while you are away.
Fix a move-out date with the subtenant
Under § 704.25(5), a subtenant who holds over can leave you facing damages where the landlord has not been accepting rent directly from the subtenant.
Read the current text before relying on any of it
Read § 704.09 and § 704.25 on docs.legis.wisconsin.gov, and check § 200-21.5 against Milwaukee's current code on the city's site.