Subletting

Subletting your place means that:

• You intend to return to it after a period of time
• You have a rental agreement between yourself (tenant) and a subtenant
• You become the ‘main tenant’. The new tenant becomes a subtenant. You are in the middle between the property owner and the subtenant: you are a tenant to the property owner and a property owner to the subtenant.

Subletting your unit comes with high risks:

• Your tenancy is still valid. You are still responsible for damages to the unit and for paying rent, even if the person you are subletting to does not
• All the rules around notice to quit and eviction will still apply to YOU
• If you change your mind and do not plan on returning and your subtenant does not plan on staying or renewing after the end of the lease, you still have to give a notice to quit to the property owner

Subletting comes also with rights for you, the main tenant. Take the time to read the Tenant Rights Guide, section specific for Sublet, to understand if this is an option for you, what is legal and what isn’t for yourself, the person subletting and the person you are renting from.

An assignment is a permanent change to a tenancy as you permanently leave your place

• An ‘assignee’ should sign or enter into a new lease with the person you are renting from
• The person you are renting from must return your security deposit once the new tenant hands in their security deposit
• Once the new assignment begins you have nothing to do with the person you were renting from and assignee