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 Utah law says, what's specific to Salt Lake City - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- No Utah section we read sets a deadline for an owner's answer to a sublet request.
- Subletting against your lease is an eviction ground after a three calendar days' notice to quit (§ 78B-6-802(1)(d)).
- Raising the occupant count above your lease's figure needs the owner's written permission (§ 57-22-5(1)(f)).
- If you sublet, Utah's Fit Premises Act counts you as an owner (§ 57-22-2(1)).
- Salt Lake City stays under 30 days need a city license and the landlord's written consent (§ 5.13.030(F)).
Count it for your dates
3 days: when does it end?
What it means: In the 2020 version of the statute, a tenant who sublet contrary to the lease is guilty of unlawful detainer after this notice period. Applies to A tenant for a term less than life, under the version effective August 31, 2020. A newer version took effect May 6, 2026, so check its current wording. This is not a reply period for the owner. (Utah Code § 78B-6-802(1)(d)). 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 paragraph
Ask to sublet
Fill in the brackets and keep a copy of what you send.
How Utah compares
Landlord's deadline to answer a written sublet request, state by state
30 daysNo figureGuide coming soonYou are here
See all 27 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 Salt Lake City renters who want to sublet for a summer or a work posting, or who are about to sign a lease with a sublet paragraph. No Utah section we read gives the owner a reply clock, which leaves the paragraph you sign as the text that answers it.
Ask for a reply date and a clear consent rule before you sign. Plan any paid stays of under 30 days separately, because the city licenses them.
What renters assume
Utah law gives the owner a set number of days to answer a sublet request, and the eviction statute's three days is that number.
What is actually true
No Utah section we read sets a reply period. The three calendar days in § 78B-6-802(1)(d) is a notice to quit served on a tenant who sublet contrary to the lease, not time for the owner to answer.
The bars in the comparison on this page measure an owner's deadline to answer a written sublet request. One of the 27 rows carries a figure: New York City, at 30 days. The other 26 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, and Charlotte, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Indianapolis and Louisville no set deadline.
Kansas City and Oklahoma City add written assent required. Washington, DC reads no deadline, lease may bar it, and Columbus no statute; lease controls.
Newark reads no deadline; city bars short-term sublets, Detroit no deadline; lease controls, Milwaukee no deadline; lease may restrict, and Salt Lake City no set deadline; lease covenants.
Salt Lake City's label names the document that fills the gap. § 78B-6-802(1)(d) turns on "the covenants of the lease", and its three calendar days is a notice to quit.
Sublet Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Salt Lake City, UT
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”
This is the covenant Utah's eviction statute points back to. In the version of § 78B-6-802(1)(d) we read, a tenant who “assigns or sublets the leased premises contrary to the covenants of the lease” is guilty of unlawful detainer after service of a three calendar days' notice to quit. Those three days are a notice to the tenant, not time for the owner to answer a request.
See the example
“a temporary visit”
The lease sorts a stay by whether it is a visit. Salt Lake City sorts a paid one by length. Under Salt Lake City Code § 5.13.010 a short-term rental is lodging offered for a fee “for a period less than thirty (30) days”. § 5.13.020(A) makes it unlawful to “operate, maintain, advertise, or allow the use of any dwelling as a short-term rental” without a city license.
See the example
“the individuals specifically named”
Naming the household does work in Utah beyond this clause. § 57-22-5(1)(f) says a renter “may not increase the number of occupants above that specified in the rental agreement without written permission of the owner”. A sublet in which you stay and a subtenant moves in adds an occupant, and that rule asks for the owner's permission in writing.
See the example
“the assent in writing”
The court that decided this case let the landlord refuse arbitrarily, because neither the lease nor a statute required reasonableness. No Utah section our record read sets a reply period or a standard for refusing a sublet. That leaves the sublet paragraph of the lease as the document that answers the question. New York City's 30 days in the comparison comes from New York law.
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.
Utah Law on Subletting Clause
- Subletting against the lease is an eviction ground.
Read the law's words
In the version of Utah Code § 78B-6-802 effective August 31, 2020, a tenant for a term less than life is guilty of unlawful detainer if the tenant "assigns or sublets the leased premises contrary to the covenants of the lease, or commits or permits waste on the premises after service of a three calendar days' notice to quit". A newer version of § 78B-6-802 took effect May 6, 2026, and its text is not in our record, so check the current wording before relying on it. - A tenant who sublets steps into the owner's shoes under the Fit Premises Act.
Read the law's words
Utah Code § 57-22-2(1) defines "Owner" as "the owner, lessor, or sublessor of a residential rental unit", and the repair, entry notice and disclosure duties in § 57-22-4 are written as duties of an owner. The 2020 version of § 78B-6-802 also refers repeatedly to a tenant who continues in possession "in person or by subtenant", and to notice served "upon any subtenant in actual occupation of the premises". - Adding people still needs written permission.
Read the law's words
Utah Code § 57-22-5(1)(f) says a renter "may not increase the number of occupants above that specified in the rental agreement without written permission of the owner", and § 57-22-5(1)(h) requires the renter to comply with "each rule, regulation, or requirement of the rental agreement". A sublet in which the tenant stays and a subtenant moves in adds an occupant. - Short stays need Salt Lake City's license and the landlord's written consent.
Read the law's words
Salt Lake City Code § 5.13.020(A) makes it "unlawful for any person to operate, maintain, advertise, or allow the use of any dwelling as a short-term rental within the city without first obtaining a valid, unrevoked short term rental business license". Section 5.13.030(F) requires a licensee whose dwelling is subject to a rental agreement to provide written documentation that the owner or landlord consented, and § 5.13.050(F) bars a license unless the property is zoned MU2, MU3, MU5, MU6, MU8, MU11, M1, M1-A, D1, D2, D3, D4, GMU, RP, BP, A, or JRF.
Sources include Utah Code § 78B-6-802; Utah Code § 57-22-2; Utah Code § 57-22-5; Utah Code § 57-22-7; Utah Code § 57-20-1; Salt Lake City Code § 5.13.010; Salt Lake City Code § 5.13.020; Salt Lake City Code § 5.13.030; Salt Lake City Code § 5.13.050 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Three parts of Utah law matter for a sublet:
- Eviction ground. In the version of § 78B-6-802 effective August 31, 2020, a tenant who "assigns or sublets the leased premises contrary to the covenants of the lease" is guilty of unlawful detainer after service of a three calendar days' notice to quit. That notice runs against the tenant. The same version speaks of notice served "upon any subtenant in actual occupation of the premises".
- You become an owner. § 57-22-2(1) defines "Owner" as "the owner, lessor, or sublessor of a residential rental unit". The repair, entry notice and disclosure duties in § 57-22-4 are written as an owner's duties.
- Extra occupants. § 57-22-5(1)(f) says a renter "may not increase the number of occupants above that specified in the rental agreement without written permission of the owner". A sublet in which you stay and a subtenant moves in adds an occupant.
No Utah section we read sets a reply deadline or a request procedure. The Legislature lists a newer version of § 78B-6-802, effective May 6, 2026, whose text we have not read. Check its current wording before relying on it.
What's Specific to Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City's code reaches subletting through short stays. § 5.13.020(A) makes it unlawful to advertise or allow the use of a dwelling as a short-term rental without a city license. § 5.13.010 defines that as lodging for a fee "for a period less than thirty (30) days". Under § 5.13.030(F) a renter applying must show written proof the landlord consented, and § 5.13.050(F) limits licenses to listed zones.
No city section we read sets a procedure or a deadline for a request to sublet a home. Read Chapter 5.13 as it stands today.
No Utah section we read sets a deadline. A reply date written into the clause is a term both sides have signed.
§ 78B-6-802(1)(d) turns on a sublet "contrary to the covenants of the lease". The clause is where those covenants are written.
Get the owner's written permission first if that takes the occupant count above your rental agreement's figure.
You need a city short-term rental license under § 5.13.020(A) and written proof of the landlord's consent.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- Utah Code § 78B-6-802; Utah Code § 57-22-2; Utah Code § 57-22-5; Utah Code § 57-22-7; Utah Code § 57-20-1; Salt Lake City Code § 5.13.010; Salt Lake City Code § 5.13.020; Salt Lake City Code § 5.13.030; Salt Lake City Code § 5.13.050, read on web.archive.org. The Utah Legislature's page for the version of this section effective August 31, 2020, in an Internet Archive copy saved January 1, 2025, carries the history line Amended by Chapter 19, 2020 Special Session 6; the Legislature now lists a version effective May 6, 2026, so confirm the current text with the Utah Legislature before relying on it.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Three days read as the owner's reply time
The three calendar days in the eviction statute run against a tenant who sublet contrary to the lease. They do not limit how long the owner takes to answer.
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Consent left wholly to the owner
No Utah section we read sets a standard for a refusal. Negotiate that clause before signing, not after a subtenant is lined up.
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A subtenant who thinks the notice is not theirs
The 2020 version of § 78B-6-802 speaks of notice served "upon any subtenant in actual occupation of the premises". Tell the person holding under you before they move in.
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Becoming an owner without noticing
§ 57-22-2(1) counts a sublessor as an owner, and the repair, entry notice and disclosure duties in § 57-22-4 are written as an owner's duties.
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A short-stay listing without a license
Advertising a dwelling as a short-term rental without a city license is unlawful under § 5.13.020(A).
Your Rights as a Salt Lake City Tenant
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The lease sets the line
The eviction ground reaches a sublet "contrary to the covenants of the lease", which makes the paragraph you signed the measure.
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Notice before an eviction for subletting
The subsection runs from service of a notice to quit. Read the current version of § 78B-6-802 for its exact wording.
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Subtenants named in the statute
The 2020 version refers to a tenant continuing in possession "in person or by subtenant".
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A written path for short stays
For a short-term rental license, what you need from the landlord is written documentation that the landlord consented.
What To Do - Step by Step
Read the sublet paragraph before asking
Look for whether consent is required, what follows a sublet without it, and any reply date.
Ask in writing and date the request
Give the subtenant's name, the dates and the rent. With no reply clock in the Utah sections we read, your dated request is the one both sides can point to.
Count the occupants
If you will stay while a subtenant moves in, get the owner's written permission before the count rises above the rental agreement's figure.
Tell the subtenant where they stand
Show them the lease's sublet paragraph before they move in.
Check the license rules for short stays
Paid stays of under 30 days need a license, written landlord consent and a listed zone (§§ 5.13.020(A), 5.13.030(F), 5.13.050(F)).
Read the current text first
Read § 78B-6-802 on le.utah.gov and Chapter 5.13 in the city's current code before relying on either.
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Subletting rules near Utah
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