Subletting Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what New York law says, what's specific to New York City - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- In a building with four or more units, your landlord cannot unreasonably withhold sublet consent (§ 226-b).
- Your landlord has 10 days to ask for more information, then 30 days to consent or state reasons.
- Silence for 30 days is deemed consent. If a court finds a bad-faith denial, you recover costs and attorney's fees.
- Rent-stabilized tenants may sublet at most two years in any four-year period, keeping the unit as a primary residence.
- Stabilized tenants may add only a 10% surcharge for a furnished sublet. Overcharged subtenants can sue for damages.
Understanding the Subletting Clause
This page is for New York City renters who want to sublet, or who are about to sign a lease with a subletting clause. A clause may read as if the landlord's answer is final.
In a building with four or more units, state law gives you a request process with a deadline, and it works best when you follow each step and keep proof of the date. Rent-stabilized tenants also have limits on how long they can sublet and what they can charge.
What renters assume
A clause that says "no subletting without landlord consent" lets the landlord ignore a request or refuse it for any reason.
What is actually true
In a building with four or more units, § 226-b bars unreasonably withholding consent, and no written answer within 30 days of a certified-mail request is deemed consent.
New York is the only city on this chart with a real clock. Texas bars subletting without prior consent and sets no deadline at all, and Chicago makes landlords accept a reasonable sublease but never says by when - here, 30 days of silence is a yes.
Sublet Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in New York City, NY
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.
18. (A) Assignment, subletting.—Except as provided by § 226-b of the Real Property Law of New York, the Tenant shall not assign the lease, nor sublet the Apartment, or permit the Apartment or any part thereof to be used by any one other than Tenant or members of the immediate family of Tenant, without the prior written consent of Owner in each case, if the Lease is assigned, or if the Apartment is sublet or occupied by anybody other than Tenant or Tenant’s immediate family.
Quoted from the published opinion in Conrad v. Third Sutton Realty Co., 81 A.D.2d 50 (1st Dep't 1981). 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
“Except as provided by § 226-b”
Your lease opens by surrendering. That carve-out is the landlord's own acknowledgement that the paragraph underneath it is not the last word - the statute is. The right belongs to a tenant in a dwelling with four or more residential units, and it survives whatever the rest of paragraph 18 goes on to say. Conrad is what happens when a landlord forgets that: the clause was intact and fully enforceable on its face, and the tenant still got a court declaration that she could sublet - and with it the right to compel acceptance of the bona fide subtenant she had proposed.
See the example
“nor sublet the Apartment”
Four words that a clock can overrule. The landlord gets 10 days to demand reasonable additional information about the person you propose, and then 30 days from your request - or from that extra information, whichever falls later - to consent or to state reasons for refusing. Failing to send that notice within 30 days is deemed consent. Conrad reached the same destination by the other road: the landlord there did answer, but gave no reason for the refusal, and a refusal with no reasons was treated as a yes.
See the example
“without the prior written consent of Owner”
Written consent is still what you want in hand - but in New York it is not the only way to get it. A refusal that gives no reasons is not a refusal that counts, and a refusal that gives bad ones is a refusal you can test, because consent cannot be unreasonably withheld. That is the whole distance between this state and Massachusetts, where the Supreme Judicial Court read almost identical words and held they let a landlord say no for no reason at all.
See the example
“or if the Apartment is sublet or occupied by anybody”
This is where the city's own limits land. A rent-stabilized tenant may sublet for no more than two years in any four-year period and must keep the apartment as a primary residence - the sublet is a gap in your occupancy, not a handover. For a furnished sublet the surcharge is capped at 10%, and a subtenant charged beyond the stabilized rent can sue for damages, including treble damages in profiteering cases.
See the example
A landlord who gives no reason is treated as having said yes. The tenant proposed a documented sublessee; the managing agent's reply gave no reason at all - only that permission would not be granted, with an offer to let her terminate the lease instead. The Appellate Division held that a landlord who rejects a residential sublease without stating any valid reason is deemed to have consented under Real Property Law § 226-b, and that the tenant may compel acceptance of a bona fide sublessee. The court rejected the argument that release from the lease was the tenant's only remedy: in a housing shortage, that reading would leave a tenant with a meaningless right to surrender. Read the panel accurately - a divided panel affirmed, three judges adopting the rationale below, while two concurred separately on a narrower reading of § 226-b (2) and expressly declined to say what happens when a landlord does state reasons that turn out to be unreasonable. One of them noted that this lease carried no provision that consent would not unreasonably be withheld, which is why the statute had to do all the work. Read it with its date, too: this construes § 226-b before its substantial 1983 amendment. The deemed-consent result still tracks current § 226-b (2) (c), but today's statute also expressly lets a tenant sublet where consent is unreasonably withheld - the very question the concurrence reserved. The unit was a Manhattan apartment; the words rent control and stabilization appear nowhere in the opinion. Printed above is the first sentence of paragraph 18(A); the paragraph runs on for another 107 words of non-waiver boilerplate that is not reproduced here.
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.
New York Law on Subletting Clause
- The right applies only to a tenant in a dwelling with four or more residential units.
- The tenant must mail the sublet request by certified mail, return receipt requested, with the sublease term, the subtenant's name and address, the reason, and the tenant's address during the sublet.
- The landlord has 10 days to demand reasonable additional information, then 30 days from the request or from that information (whichever is later) to consent or state reasons for refusal.
- Failure to send the notice within 30 days is deemed consent, and a tenant can recover costs and attorney's fees where a court finds the denial was in bad faith.
Sources include N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 226-b - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Count it for your dates
30 days: when does it end?
What it means: Your landlord must send written consent or reasons for refusing by this date, and if no notice is sent, the sublet is deemed consented to. If your landlord asked within 10 days of your request for reasonable additional information, enter the date you sent that information, since the 30 days run from whichever is later. Applies to a tenant in a dwelling with four or more residential units (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 226-b). Calendar arithmetic only; check how the section counts days before you rely on a date.
Copy and send: Before anyone moves in, sent by certified mail, return receipt requested
Sublet request
Fill in the brackets and keep a copy of what you send.
N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 226-b applies only to a tenant in a dwelling with four or more residential units. It sets these steps:
- The request. Mail it by certified mail, return receipt requested. Include the sublease term, the subtenant's name and address, your reason for subletting, and your address during the sublet.
- More information. Your landlord has 10 days to ask for reasonable additional information.
- The answer. Your landlord then has 30 days from your request or from that information, whichever is later, to consent or state reasons for refusing. Consent cannot be unreasonably withheld.
- Silence. If no notice is sent within those 30 days, the sublet is deemed consented to.
- Bad faith. If a court finds a denial was made in bad faith, you can recover your costs and attorney's fees.
In a building with fewer than four units, § 226-b does not apply, which leaves your lease's subletting clause as the document that answers it.
What's Specific to New York City
How New York 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.
New York City adds limits for rent-stabilized apartments. A stabilized tenant may sublet for no more than two years in any four-year period and must keep the unit as a primary residence.
The tenant may charge only a 10% surcharge when the sublet is furnished. A subtenant overcharged beyond the stabilized rent can sue for damages, including treble damages in profiteering cases.
To check whether your unit is stabilized, order your rent history from HCR.
In a building with four or more units, § 226-b already sets that standard, so this wording matches it.
Useful. Send it by certified mail, return receipt requested, so you can prove when the 30-day count started.
In a four-or-more-unit building, your right to request a sublet and get an answer comes from § 226-b, not the lease.
Ask for the amount and what it covers in writing before you sign.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 226-b on nysenate.gov, New York's own publication of its statutes.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Consent at the landlord's sole discretion
In a four-or-more-unit building, § 226-b says consent cannot be unreasonably withheld. Sole-discretion wording tries to write that standard out of your lease.
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A phone or text request process
A call or text leaves no proof of the date. Certified mail, return receipt requested, is what dates the 30-day deadline.
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Automatic termination if you sublet
Wording that ends your tenancy once a subtenant moves in. In a four-or-more-unit building, you have the § 226-b request process first.
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Moving someone in before an answer
Wait for written consent, or for the 30 days to pass with no notice, before anyone moves in.
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Charging your subtenant market rent
In a rent-stabilized unit, the only increase allowed is the 10% furnished surcharge. An overcharged subtenant can sue you for damages.
Your Rights as a New York City Tenant
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A written answer in 30 days
Your landlord must consent or state reasons for refusing within 30 days of your request, or of any extra information asked for, whichever is later.
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Silence counts as consent
No notice sent within 30 days is deemed consent under § 226-b. Keep the certified-mail receipt that proves your mailing date.
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No unreasonable refusal
In a dwelling with four or more residential units, your landlord cannot unreasonably withhold consent.
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Fees back for a bad-faith denial
If a court finds the denial was made in bad faith, you can recover your costs and attorney's fees.
What To Do - Step by Step
Count the units in your building
§ 226-b covers dwellings with four or more residential units. Below that, your lease's subletting clause is the document that answers it.
Check if you are rent-stabilized
Order your rent history from HCR. Stabilized tenants also face the two-years-in-four and primary-residence limits.
Write the request in full
Include the sublease term, the subtenant's name and address, your reason and your address during the sublet. Missing pieces may stall the 30-day count.
Send it certified, return receipt requested
Keep the receipt. It proves the date your request went out.
Answer any request for more information
Your landlord has 10 days to ask. Reply quickly, since the 30 days then run from that information.
Mark day 30 on your calendar
No written consent or refusal by then means the sublet is deemed consented to. Keep every mailing receipt.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Subletting rules near New York
The same clause in the nearest states we cover.
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