Subletting Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what Arizona law says, what's specific to Phoenix - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- Our Arizona record finds no general subletting provision in the state's landlord-tenant act, which leaves your lease to decide.
- No statute in our Arizona record sets a deadline for the landlord's answer to a sublet request.
- In mobile home parks that allow subleasing, approval can't be unreasonably withheld (A.R.S. § 33-1454).
- Phoenix adds nothing on subletting. There is no city sublet ordinance.
- If you sublet, you stay fully liable for the rent and for any damage your subtenant causes.
Understanding the Subletting Clause
This page is for Phoenix renters who want to sublet, or who are about to sign a lease with a subletting clause. That clause usually covers true sublets, lease assignments, roommate swaps and short-term rentals.
Our Arizona record finds no general subletting provision in the state's landlord-tenant act, which leaves the clause you sign as the document that answers it. Fixing it before you sign is easier than arguing later, so ask for a reply date, a fixed fee and a promise that consent will not be unreasonably withheld.
What renters assume
A landlord has to be fair about it, so a screened, employed replacement with solid credit can't simply be turned down.
What is actually true
Our Arizona record finds no reasonableness test for ordinary apartments and houses. The rule in it saying approval can't be unreasonably withheld, A.R.S. § 33-1454, covers mobile home parks only.
Read the chart the honest way: Phoenix sits with the silent cities. A New York City tenant in a building of four or more units gets an answer within 30 days, and a Chicago landlord must accept a reasonable sublease without charging a single extra fee - Arizona gives you neither, only what you negotiated before signing.
Sublet Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Phoenix, AZ
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”
For an ordinary apartment or house in Phoenix, how much you sublet changes nothing, because the statute changes nothing. The Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, A.R.S. § 33-1301 et seq., contains no general residential subletting provision, so the written lease decides whether consent is needed and whether the landlord may refuse outright.
See the example
“nor shall permit the premises to be occupied”
This sentence has to draw the guest-versus-occupant line, because the state act does not. Arizona's residential act carries no general residential subletting provision, so it fixes no point at which someone staying with you becomes a person the landlord has a say over. Where the lease defines that point, the lease is your rule; where it does not, the Arizona record here has nothing to fill the gap.
See the example
“and any children born to them hereafter”
A lease that anticipates children but not roommates is telling you where its flexibility ends, and Arizona gives you nothing to add. A.R.S. § 33-1454 - the provision saying a landlord who permits subleasing shall not unreasonably withhold approval of subleases and subtenants - belongs to the mobile home park act, not to the act covering your apartment.
See the example
“the assent in writing of Landlord”
Even inside a mobile home park that rule has a limit worth knowing: § 33-1454 constrains a landlord who permits subleasing and does not require the landlord to allow subleasing at all. So in Arizona it is the lease, not a statute, that decides whether written assent is the gate at all. Phoenix adds nothing - there is no city sublet ordinance - so the lease and the state act govern.
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.
Arizona Law on Subletting Clause
- The Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, A.R.S. § 33-1301 et seq., contains no general residential subletting provision.
- For ordinary apartments and houses the written lease decides whether consent is needed and whether the landlord may refuse outright.
- A.R.S. § 33-1454, part of the separate mobile home park act, says a landlord who permits subleasing shall not unreasonably withhold approval of subleases and subtenants, but is not required to allow subleasing at all.
- Our Arizona record finds no statute that sets a number of days for a landlord to answer a sublet request.
Sources include A.R.S. § 33-1454 (mobile home parks only) - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
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.
Three points from our Arizona record matter for a sublet:
- Ordinary rentals. The Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, A.R.S. § 33-1301 and following, contains no general residential subletting provision. For apartments and houses, the written lease decides whether consent is needed and whether the landlord may refuse outright.
- No reply deadline. Our Arizona record finds no statute that sets a number of days for a landlord to answer a sublet request, and no rule that makes silence a yes.
- Mobile home parks. Under A.R.S. § 33-1454, part of the separate mobile home park act, a landlord who permits subleasing shall not unreasonably withhold approval of subleases and subtenants. That landlord is not required to allow subleasing at all.
Statutes get amended, so check the current Arizona text before you rely on this.
What's Specific to Phoenix
How Arizona 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.
Phoenix adds nothing on subletting. There is no city sublet ordinance, so the lease and the state act govern, whether you rent in Arcadia or Maryvale.
Some corporate landlords in Laveen and the build-to-rent suburbs run occupant policies through an online portal, where no subletting can be a setting rather than a conversation. If yours does, email your sublet request to the landlord as well.
Ask for wording that consent won't be unreasonably withheld. Our Arizona record holds that standard only for mobile home parks.
For an ordinary rental, the lease decides whether the landlord may refuse outright. Raise it before you sign.
Our Arizona record finds none. Ask for a written answer within a set number of days, with silence counting as approval.
A charge left "to be determined" gets filled in later. Ask for a fixed dollar amount written into the lease.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- A.R.S. § 33-1454 (mobile home parks only) on azleg.gov, Arizona's own publication of its statutes.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Consent in landlord's sole discretion
That phrase ends any argument that a refusal was unfair. Our Arizona record finds no reasonableness test for apartment landlords, so change it before you sign.
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Moving someone in without written consent
If the clause requires written consent, moving someone in without it breaches the lease you signed. Hold the keys until consent is in writing.
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Unapproved occupant as instant default
Some Phoenix leases treat any unapproved occupant as an immediate, non-curable default. One roommate swap can become an eviction filing instead of a warning.
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Per-night short-term-rental penalty
Some leases add a flat penalty for every night the unit is listed on Airbnb, on top of eviction. Read for it before you list anywhere.
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A verbal okay from the leasing office
A leasing agent's spoken yes is hard to prove later. Ask for a signed sublease addendum naming your subtenant and the exact dates.
Your Rights as a Phoenix Tenant
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Reasonable review in a mobile home park
If your park permits subleasing, A.R.S. § 33-1454 says approval of a sublease or subtenant can't be unreasonably withheld.
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Keep your own tenant protections
A sublease doesn't demote you. You stay the tenant on the lease, so your deposit, repair and notice rights under Arizona's act run the full term.
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Negotiate the clause before signing
The sublet paragraph is as negotiable as the rent or the pet fee. Adding a reply deadline and a reasonableness standard costs nothing at signing.
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Hold them to a written yes
A written approval naming your subtenant and dates is your proof if the same sublet is later called a violation.
What To Do - Step by Step
Find the sublet paragraph
Search your lease for sublet, assignment and occupant. For an ordinary Phoenix rental, that paragraph is the rule you work with.
Ask in writing
Email the request with your subtenant's name, the exact dates and the rent. Email gives you a dated copy.
Set your own follow-up date
Our Arizona record finds no reply deadline. Put a date in your first message and follow up in the same thread.
Wait for consent in writing
No move-in on a verbal yes. Ask for a signed addendum before your subtenant gets the keys.
Paper your own sublease
Sign a separate agreement with your subtenant covering rent dates, a deposit and whose name holds the APS or SRP account.
If refused, ask about other exits
Ask about a lease buyout or an assignment that releases you. Community Legal Services in Phoenix can review the clause with you.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Subletting rules near Arizona
The same clause in the nearest states we cover.
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