Can the landlord refuse to let me sublet my apartment although the lease contract states that I may do so with written consent?
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Can the landlord refuse to let me sublet my apartment although the lease contract states that I may do so with written consent?
I have fallen on hard times, and can no longer afford to pay my rent. Instead, of breaking my lease contract, I have found a party willing to sublet, however, the apartment manger refuses to consent to the sublet. The manager has not even given the other party the opportunity to submit an application, so I’m sure they haven’t reached there decision based on the other party not qualifying. We have tried everything to work with the manager to prevent a broken lease or eviction but the office has been unwilling to work with us in any way. Is there something we can do to protect ourselves?
Asked on October 3, 2011 under Real Estate Law, Texas
Answers:
FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
If you have a written lease with the landlord for the rental that you occupy, you need to carefully read it in that its terms and conditions control the obligations owed to you by the landlord and vice versa in the absence of conflicting state law.
In most real estate leases where there is a provision concerning subletting a rental, most of the time there is language requiring landlord consent to allow the sublet, but that the consent shall not be unreasonably withheld. I suggest that you review your lease to see if there is a provision regarding withholding of the consent to sublease unreasonably or not in that from what you have written, there does not seem to be a basis for denying your request to sublease the unit.
In any event, there are many cases holding that a landlord's approval to sublease a unit or not cannot be unreasonably withheld.
Good luck.
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