Property and premises
Sublease agreement
The paper by which an existing tenant lets space on to somebody else while remaining liable under its own lease. Everything in it is constrained by the head lease above it: the sublease usually cannot last longer, allow more, or permit uses the head lease forbids, and it almost always needs the landlord's consent. Its practical sections are about what happens between the two occupiers day to day — access, shared services, and what happens if the head lease ends.
- In the catalogue
- Property and premises
- Where it can live
- Any of the 184 governing laws
Who uses one
- Companies with more space than they need letting part of it out.
- Tenants leaving before their lease ends who cannot assign it.
- Businesses taking desk or studio space from another occupier.
What you are deciding
- Which part of the space is subject to it
- How long it runs, always inside the head lease term
- What rent and share of outgoings is paid
- Whether the landlord's consent has been obtained
- Which head lease obligations are passed down
- Access, shared areas and services
- What happens if the head lease ends early
- Whether the sub-tenant may make changes to the space
Blanks you leave stay blank and wait in the room. Nothing is filled in from a guess.
The sections a draft usually has
- 1The parties and the head lease
- 2The sublet space
- 3Term
- 4Rent and outgoings
- 5Landlord consent
- 6Passed-down obligations
- 7Shared services and access
- 8Alterations
- 9What happens if the head lease ends
- 10Ending the sublease
A general outline, not a required one. What turns up in a draft follows what you described. A contract is written in the order a contract is read.
What people call it
The names this kind of paper goes by. They are here because people search for them. They also filter the catalogue. They are not a wordlist the door matches. At the composer you describe the deal in your own words instead.
- sublease agreement
- sublet agreement
- sublease contract
- subletting agreement
- desk space agreement
- space sharing agreement
Questions people ask
- Does a sublease need the landlord's consent?
- Most leases require it, and some prohibit subletting entirely. Subletting without consent where consent is required is commonly a breach of the head lease.
- Who is liable to the landlord?
- Usually the original tenant remains liable under the head lease, whatever the sub-tenant does. That is the main risk in subletting, and it is why the passed-down obligations matter.
- What happens to the sublease if the head lease ends?
- In many systems the sublease falls with it, which is why agreements of this kind say what happens and often keep the sublease term shorter than the lease above it.
General answers about the document. Not advice about your situation. Not written about any one country.
Where it lives
A contract names the legal system it is governed by. That is a separate decision from which paper it is. You pick it at the door, from any of the 184 units in Governing law, including England and Wales, Delaware, California and New York.
You do not start from this page. Describe the deal in one sentence at the door. Read the draft back in plain language, in the order a contract is read.
Start it at the door →Related kinds