5 Reasons To Sublet Your Apartment

By Francine Fluetsch on July 26, 2016

Subletting an apartment can seem like a daunting task: you have to clear it with your landlord, clear it with your roommates who are still going to be living there, have to interview possible subtenants, and have to make your room livable for another person.

That sure does seem like a lot of work, but subletting can save you a lot of money. If you are in these situations, subletting might be a good option to turn to.

If: You are studying abroad

Study abroad terms are usually for one or two semesters, so during that time that you are away, it might be a good idea to look into a subtenant. If you don’t, you’ll have to be paying extra rent while you are away, or your roommates might have to kick you out since they can’t pay the rent without you.

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To avoid that situation and to save yourself some money, you could find a subtenant who only needs the place while you are abroad. Make sure to specify exactly which dates you will be out for, so they aren’t confused about the terms of the sublet, and make sure that you include in the listing all the items that are in your room, so the subtenant will know what else they will need to bring with them.

If: You are graduating early

Some lucky students have the opportunity to graduate a semester or a quarter early, but then are stuck with a yearlong lease that still isn’t up. If you aren’t planning to stay in your college town after finishing early, why not sublease your place so you can start your new adventure elsewhere and not lose money?

This way, your roommates won’t be able to make you stay for an extra couple of months when all you want to do is get out of there. There are plenty of people who are looking for a sublease for the last quarter or semester, so you might even be able to advertise as you are starting to move your things, and then quickly get someone in to ride out the rest of your lease.

The important thing is to start early enough so you won’t have to pay any extra rent, and won’t have to focus on finding a person when all you really want to do is bask in the glory of being done with school.

If: You don’t really live there anymore

What I mean by this is, if you tend to spend more time at a friend’s house or a partner’s house than you do your own. Maybe you do this because the commute time from your actual apartment sucks, or maybe your roommates aren’t the best, or maybe you just realized halfway through the semester that you wanted to move in with your partner but you were both stuck in yearlong leases.

Whatever the case, if you find yourself aimlessly paying rent for a place you hardly ever live in, why not lease it out and get some money back? This way you can help pay for the place that you are now inhabiting, without feeling guilty about paying for a place you don’t use.

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A year certainly is a long time for a lease to last, and a subtenant might be the perfect solution out of a bad situation.

If: Your roommates ditch you

If your landlord doesn’t hold each student accountable for their own rent and just cares about getting the money in general, you may be in a bit of a pickle if one of your roommates decides to bail on the rent. Is this ethical or nice of them? Of course not, but it can happen unfortunately. They might not be so nice as to provide you with a subtenant, so you might have to scramble for one. I really hope you never have to be in this situation, but if roommates or housemates leave you high and dry, a subtenant will be able to save you from not being able to pay the rent on time.

If: You have an internship or job opportunity

Some jobs and internships will send you to amazing locations for you to gain experience or to have your training, and if this goes on for a while, you might want to look into subletting. You wouldn’t want to give up an amazing opportunity in fear that your landlord will kick you out or that you’ll have to pay rent while you aren’t there.

Of course if you are only gone for a week it’s not worth it, but if it’s over two months and you find someone who really only needs the sublease for a short, fixated amount of time, you might just have an answer to your problem.

Subletting is definitely worth the initial work that it entails, and once you have some experience with it, it will get easier and easier, should you come across a situation where you need to do it again.

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