Subletting Clause
in Your Lease
How this page is sourced
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 Oklahoma law says, what's specific to Oklahoma City - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- No section we read in Oklahoma law sets a deadline for a landlord to answer a sublet request.
- A term of two years or less needs the landlord's written assent (Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 10).
- Without it, the landlord may give 10 days' notice to quit, then reenter (§ 11).
- Under the Act you become your subtenant's landlord (§ 102(5)), and they keep a remedy against the principal landlord (§ 14).
- Oklahoma City bars knowingly subleasing a building for a disorderly house (Oklahoma City Municipal Code § 30-98).
Count it for your dates
10 days: when does it end?
What it means: Only after the ten days' notice does the landlord have a right to reenter and dispossess the tenant, subtenant or undertenant. Applies to a tenant for a term not exceeding two years, or at will, or by sufferance, who assigns or transfers the term or any part of it without the landlord's written assent (§ 10) (Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 11). Calendar arithmetic only; check how the section counts days before you rely on a date.
Copy and send: Before anyone moves in, once you have read your lease's sublet clause
Ask to sublet
Fill in the brackets and keep a copy of what you send.
How Oklahoma compares
Landlord's deadline to answer a written sublet request, state by state
30 daysNo figureGuide coming soonYou are here
See all 26 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 Oklahoma City renters who want to sublet, or who are about to sign a lease with a sublet clause. Oklahoma law sets the form of consent: for a term of two years or less, the landlord's yes must be in writing.
No section we read gives the landlord a date to answer by. Your sublet clause is where a reply date would be written, so read it before you sign, and get the assent on paper before anyone moves in.
What renters assume
Oklahoma gives a landlord a set number of days to answer a sublet request, and silence means yes.
What is actually true
No section we read sets a reply period, and none turns silence into consent. Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 10 asks for the landlord's written assent and puts no time limit on the answer.
The bars in the comparison on this page measure a landlord's deadline to answer a written sublet request. One of the 26 rows carries a figure: New York City, at 30 days. The other 25 rows are blank.
Eleven of those read no statute, five read no set deadline, and Chicago and Portland read no deadline. The rest carry a qualifier: Washington, DC reads no deadline, lease may bar it, Columbus no statute; lease controls, Newark no deadline; city bars short-term sublets, Detroit no deadline; lease controls and Milwaukee no deadline; lease may restrict.
Oklahoma City shares its label, no deadline; written assent required, with Kansas City. The assent in Oklahoma's label comes from Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 10, and that section attaches no time limit to the landlord's answer.
Sublet Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Oklahoma City, OK
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
“Tenant shall not assign nor underlet”
Assign is a word Oklahoma's statute shares with this lease, and underlet is not. Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 10 bars a tenant from assigning or transferring “his term or interest, or any part thereof” without written assent, and it never uses the word sublet. The next section, § 11, does name the “subtenant or undertenant” a landlord may dispossess. Whether every underletting is a transfer under § 10 is a question our record leaves open.
See the example
“any part or the whole of the premises”
The lease measures by space: one room, or the whole unit. Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 10 measures by the tenancy, barring a transfer of the term or interest “or any part thereof”. Renting out a bedroom for the summer is part of the premises under this lease. Whether it is part of the term under the statute is the same open question in a different shape.
See the example
“the individuals specifically named”
The individuals named are the tenants, and a sublet gives one of them a second role. Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 102(5) defines landlord as “the owner, lessor or sublessor” of the dwelling unit. Once a named tenant underlets, that tenant is the subtenant's landlord for the purposes of the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, carrying the duties the Act gives a landlord.
See the example
“the assent in writing of Landlord”
Oklahoma's statute and this lease ask for the same thing, assent on paper, and neither puts a clock on it. Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 10 requires “the written assent of the landlord or person holding under him” and says nothing about how long the landlord may take or what grounds a refusal may rest on. In this case a Massachusetts court read lease wording like this without adding any duty to be reasonable. That is a Massachusetts holding, not an Oklahoma one.
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.
Oklahoma Law on Subletting Clause
- Consent must be in writing, and no clock runs on the answer.
Read the law's words
Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 10 provides: "No tenant for a term not exceeding two (2) years, or at will, or by sufferance, shall assign or transfer his term or interest, or any part thereof, to another, without the written assent of the landlord or person holding under him." The section says nothing about how long the landlord may take to give or refuse that assent, or on what grounds. - The consequence of skipping consent is a ten day notice.
Read the law's words
Section 11 provides that if a tenant violates § 10, "the landlord, or person holding under him, after giving ten (10) days' notice to quit possession, shall have a right to reenter the premises and take possession thereof, and dispossess the tenant, subtenant or undertenant." - A tenant who sublets steps into the landlord's role.
Read the law's words
Under the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, § 102(5) defines landlord to mean "the owner, lessor or sublessor of the dwelling unit or the building of which it is a part", so the Act's landlord duties reach a sublessor. Section 14 adds that "Sublessees shall have the same remedy upon the original covenant against the principal landlord, as they might have had against their immediate lessor." - The one Oklahoma City section in our record that uses the word sublease is a disorderly house rule.
Read the law's words
Oklahoma City Municipal Code § 30-98(a) provides that no owner, lessee, lessor or other person in control of a building "shall knowingly use, lease, sublease or otherwise permit the use of same for the purpose of keeping therein any disorderly house". Under § 30-98(b), a Municipal Court conviction for an act on the premises becomes notice to the owner 30 days after the conviction, but only once a police officer has delivered written notice of it in person.
Sources include Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 10; Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 11; Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 14; Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 102; Okla. Stat. tit. 11, § 14-101.1; Okla. Stat. tit. 11, § 22-110.1; Oklahoma City Municipal Code § 30-98 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Four parts of Oklahoma law matter for a sublet:
- Written assent. Okla. Stat. tit. 41, § 10 says no tenant for a term not exceeding two years, or at will, or by sufferance, may assign or transfer the term or interest, "or any part thereof", without "the written assent of the landlord or person holding under him". It names no time for the answer and no grounds for a refusal.
- Ten days' notice. If a tenant breaks § 10, § 11 gives the landlord a right, after 10 days' notice to quit possession, to reenter and dispossess "the tenant, subtenant or undertenant". Those 10 days are a notice to leave, not a reply period.
- You become a landlord. The Residential Landlord and Tenant Act defines landlord in § 102(5) to include a sublessor, so the Act's landlord duties reach a tenant who sublets.
- Your subtenant's remedy. § 14 gives sublessees "the same remedy upon the original covenant against the principal landlord, as they might have had against their immediate lessor."
Section 10 does not use the word sublet, and the sections we read do not settle whether every sublease is a transfer of "any part" of the term. A written term longer than two years falls outside the words of § 10.
Read the current text of each section on oscn.net before you rely on it.
What's Specific to Oklahoma City
Our record of the Oklahoma City Municipal Code finds no city ordinance setting a deadline for a landlord to answer a sublet request. The code does reach subleasing in one way.
Oklahoma City Municipal Code § 30-98(a) bars an owner, lessee, lessor or other person in control of a building from knowingly leasing or subleasing it for a disorderly house. Under § 30-98(b), a Municipal Court conviction becomes notice to the owner 30 days after it, once a police officer has delivered written notice in person.
Good if it does. No section we read sets one, so a date written into the lease is the clock both sides can point to.
§ 10 speaks of "the written assent of the landlord or person holding under him". A lease that names who signs is easier to follow.
§ 10 covers terms of two years or less, at will or by sufferance. No section we read says what governs a longer term.
No section we read sets grounds for a refusal. Ask for a promise that assent will not be unreasonably withheld 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.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Assent that may be refused for any reason
No section we read sets a standard for a refusal. Wording that leaves it wholly to the landlord rests on the lease alone, so ask to change it before signing.
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A request with no date for an answer
§ 10 puts no time limit on the landlord's answer. Keep a copy of your written request and the date you sent it.
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A sublet started without written assent
Under § 11, the landlord may give 10 days' notice to quit, then reenter and dispossess you and your subtenant. Get legal advice quickly.
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A subtenant told they have no claim against the owner
§ 14 gives sublessees the same remedy on the original covenant against the principal landlord as against their immediate lessor.
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A sublet used as a disorderly house
§ 30-98(a) bars a lessee or lessor from knowingly subleasing a building for a disorderly house.
Your Rights as a Oklahoma City Tenant
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Assent on paper
§ 10 names written assent as the form of consent, so you can ask for the answer in writing. A signed assent shows the sublet was approved.
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Ten days' notice before re-entry
For a breach of § 10, § 11 gives the landlord a right to reenter after 10 days' notice to quit possession.
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A subtenant can reach the principal landlord
Under § 14, sublessees have the same remedy upon the original covenant against the principal landlord as against their immediate lessor.
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Landlord duties from your sublessor
If you rent from another tenant, § 102(5) makes them your landlord under the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.
What To Do - Step by Step
Read your sublet clause and your term
Check whether your term is two years or less and whether the clause names a reply date, a fee or other sublet terms.
Ask in writing
Name the subtenant, the dates and the rent, and ask for a written answer. Email gives you a dated copy.
Set your own follow-up date
No section we read requires an answer by any date. Put a date in your request and follow up in the same thread.
Wait for written assent
No move-in on a spoken yes. The assent § 10 names is written.
Act as your subtenant's landlord
Under § 102(5), the Act's landlord duties run from you to the person you sublet to.
Check the text, then get advice
Read Okla. Stat. tit. 41, §§ 10, 11 and 14 on oscn.net and § 30-98 in the city code as they stand today. Get legal advice if a dispute starts.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Subletting rules near Oklahoma
The same clause in the nearest states we cover.
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