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Basic Guide to Subleasing or Subletting Your Apartment or Home
Want to sublet or sublease your apartment?
Subleasing your place can be a tough task when you are in college. Along with school, work, and your social life you now have the job of finding a tenant to take over your lease. Here are some things you should consider when subleasing your place.
Legal:
- If you are currently in a lease, you should consult your landlord or realtor to see if you are allowed to sublet your place.
- Be sure you have the proper legal forms to be signed by the new tenants.
Roommates:
- Be sure to discuss the idea of subleasing with your current roommate(s). If they are also moving out and are in need of finding somebody to take over their lease then you can split the costs and responsibilities associated with subleasing.
- If your roommates are not planning on moving out, then you should be considerate of them. Be sure you run decisions by them about tenants, bills, furniture, rent payments, etc... You may be eager to find a tenant to take over your lease, but be sure you don't do this at your roommates' expense.
Tenants:
- Choosing responsible tenants is the key to a good sublease.
- While you should not discriminate when choosing a tenant, there are some basic guidelines you can follow when screening tenants.
- It is a good idea to state whether you are seeking a male or female tenant to take over your lease.
- Decide the max number of tenants you are willing to allow. Simply stating the number of bedrooms means nothing. Some people may squeeze four people into one bedroom when you only intended to have one person per bedroom.
- Determine if you are willing to allow new tenants to bring their pets. While it may be fine with you if they have pets, it is a good idea to check with your landlord and roommates to see what they think.
- It is also acceptable to screen candidates based on whether or not they smoke. Again, this is a situation where you should consult your other roommate(s) as well as your landlord.
- Talk to your roommates and new tenants to determine if you should leave the place furnished. This could be a good bargaining chip for getting a higher price on your sublease.
- Finally, a responsible tenant should have no qualms with putting down a deposit. This can help if they fail to pay rent or damage your place while they are living there.
Advertising Your Sublease:
Advertising your sublease apartment is the key to getting your place leased. There are several tactics you can use, but a well-balanced combination of these will give you the best chance to be successful.
- Subleaser.com - Using subleaser.com is a great way to post your lease and make it accessible to everyone. Since subleaser is free to search, anybody can find your listing at their own convenience. Sometimes potential tenants may be moving to your area for the first time. This happens when someone graduates high school, enrolls at your college or university, or transfers from another school. While they are potential tenants, they do not have access to the local classified, on-campus flyers, or your friends' word of mouth. However, no matter where they are, they can get on subleaser.com and find your listing.
- On Campus Advertising - There are a couple ways you can advertise your sublease apartment on campus. One of the most traditional is posting fliers on bulleting boards in high-traffic areas. The risk you run in doing this is competition and clutter. Often times, your flyer may be removed by someone else trying to get their place leased or by somebody in charge of removing old or inappropriate postings. Bulletin boards can also become extremely cluttered, making it difficult for somebody to find the sublease that is right for them. Bulletin boards are a great way to advertise your sublease, but they should be used in conjunction with other tactics. Emails can also be sent out to students at your college or university. Talk to your schools system administrator to discuss sending out mass emails. Be sure you do not SPAM your fellow students.
- Classified Ads - Classified ads are a great way to advertise your sublease apartment , but costs can add up quickly if your place does not rent right away. With the dwindling number of newspaper readers, you will more than likely need to use this with other tactics as well. If you do elect to advertise in the classifieds, you will probably be more successful advertising in the school newspaper rather than any other newspaper.
- Price - Price is a critical factor that, by itself, could determine if you sublease your apartment or not. Pick a price that will make your place more attractive than the competition. You don't necessarily have to charge the full price of your rent, however you may. After all, something is better than nothing, right? You can also offer incentives such as bills included, or 1 month rent free. Figure out what it will take to sublease your place and make it happen. Don't get too greedy or you may end up paying rent on a lease while you are not even living there.
As stated before, there are a number of ways to go about subleasing your place. Determine which you feel comfortable with, but keep in mind that a combination of all of these will increase your chances of finding a tenant to sign a sublease.
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