When Tenants Sublease Without Your Knowledge

Just because you don’t allow subleasing in your rental units doesn’t mean your tenants won’t do it—for a number of reasons. Perhaps they landed a new job in another city, or want to move in with a significant other, or maybe the apartment of their dreams became available. Tenants sometimes want to move before the lease is up; and rather than breaking the lease, finding someone to move in and take it over is a better option. For them.

When your tenants sublease without your knowledge, they have prevented you from conducting your usual due diligence on the people who are living on your property. You don’t know if they have a good rental or credit history. You have no way of knowing if they will take care of your property or be good neighbors. You don’t even know if they have jobs.

How do landlords find out about sublessors? Sometimes, the rent checks keep coming in from your tenant, because the sublease tenant is paying him or her. In other cases, thetenant will have the sublessor send their own checks directly to you. If you accept online payments, your tenant can simply give the sublessor the login and password, and they can pay out of their own account. Depending on the e-pay service, you may or may not have access to the name on the account.

When faced with an unauthorized sublease situation, the landlord holds all the cards. If your lease clearly states “no subleasing,” then you have recourse and can likely starteviction proceedings against the original tenant. And in most sublease agreements, thesublessor only has rights to occupy as long as the original tenant does.

Check with your attorney for all the details, but in most cases, landlords are never under any obligation to accept a sublessor if the lease prohibits it.

Chicago Property Management

Chicago Commercial Property Management

Property Management Firm in Chicago