You might have dabbled with the idea of letting a tenant sublease their home or the opportunity might have presented itself at one point. But is it a good idea? You might be hesitant to let someone whom you do not know and have never screened stay inside a property that you own. However, don’t write it off just yet.

There are some advantages and disadvantages when letting your tenants sublease which you might want to consider. You’re probably on your computer right now and about to put up a listing on a platform like Padleads, but decide on this first. You need to include this in your listing and your lease agreement so that interested tenants will know from the get-go, especially if they have plans of subletting.

But first, what is subleasing/subletting?

It is when a current tenant decides to rent out their rented house or apartment to someone else. Not all sublease agreements are the same. Some may require only a percentage of the whole rent as payment and some might want the full rent to be paid by the subtenant.

Some landlords do allow this. If the lease agreement does not include subleasing, then the tenant cannot let anyone rent out the unit. If it does, the tenant may or may not notify his landlord if he decides to rent out the space to another tenant.

Here are the two types of sublease:

A. Permanent

A lease has a specific time frame that a tenant is supposed to rent a property but there are instances that they have to leave before their lease ends, such as relocating to another area for their work. That is why some of them will consider the subject of sublease. This is when a tenant will rent out their home for the remainder of the tenant’s lease.

B. Short-Term

Say, a tenant has to leave for a brief period but wants to make sure that the rent is still paid. The said leaseholder can opt to have someone rent the place in his absence. It will then end once the original tenant comes back.

The plus side and downside of subleasing:

The Good:

• You will not have an unoccupied unit.

Rather than have an empty property that is not bringing in any income, subleasing just might be the answer. It will guarantee that the rent will still be paid.

• Looking for a subtenant is not your job.

It is the current tenant’s responsibility to look for someone to sublease. This will take off the burden from the landlord to not have to screen a replacement.

• Landlord will not be responsible for the subtenant

With this kind of set up, the landlord will not be held liable for the subtenant because even though they will replace the current homeowner, it will still be the original tenant’s name stated in the lease agreement. They may be held accountable should anything happen like unpaid rents or damages to the property.

The Bad:

• Undependable subtenant

You did not screen the subtenant and that might be a problem for you. You do not know much about them but you are supposed to trust them with your property. They might be the kind of tenants that you usually avoid as they may cause damages or just unreliable. It may also be difficult to locate the original tenants for any issues that may surface.

• Possible damages

A subtenant may not be as cautious as the primary tenant since their names are not on the lease agreement. They might not also be aware of all the policies and can cause damages because of it. For example, the original tenant failed to mention that you have a no-grilling policy and they just happened to cause a fire accident while grilling.

• Different screening process

You may have an elaborate screening process just to make sure that you have the best tenant that you can find, but that may not be the case if a tenant will conduct the screening of the subtenant. They will likely be more lenient than you are since they do not own the property. However, some renters would involve the landlord with screening if it is included in the subleasing rules stated in the contract.

• Breach in lease agreements

A subtenant will possibly cause violations because they weren’t the ones to sign the contract. Because of this, the landlord may evict the subtenant as well as the original tenant.

Subleasing is not something to take lightly. It has its perks that can be beneficial for you. It also has its downside but you can include some rules about subleasing in your contract such as notifying the landlord if they have plans to sublease and that he should screen the subtenants the way he screened the original tenant.

Weigh in on the advantages and disadvantages of allowing tenants to sublease. Create a clear set of rules for subleasing. Once you have done that, you can now add the subleasing clause in the listing you will publish on Padleads to attract tenants who prefer units they can sublease.