How to Ask Your NYC Landlord for Permission to Sublet

This is general information about New York housing law as of November 2026, not legal advice. The steps below follow Real Property Law 226-b for rental buildings with four or more residential units. They do not apply to co-op proprietary leases, public housing, or, in the same way, to buildings with fewer than four apartments. Read your lease. A broader overview is in subletting laws and regulations in New York.

Ask before you list, and ask in the form the statute names. A friendly text is a good opening. It is not the request that starts the 30-day clock, and it is not the request that turns silence into consent.

In a dwelling with four or more residential units, a tenant has the right to sublet, subject to the landlord's advance written consent. That consent cannot be unreasonably withheld. You start the process by mailing notice of your intent by certified mail, return receipt requested, with a specific packet of information. The landlord has 10 days to ask for more information, and 30 days from your request (or from that extra information, whichever is later) to say yes or no with reasons. If they do not send that notice, the statute deems them to have consented.

You remain liable for the lease either way. Consent is permission to have a subtenant. It is not a release. If what you want is your name off the lease, read lease takeovers and the comparison of all three exits before you send this letter.

Know whether the right applies to you

Count the residential units. Four or more, and you are in 226-b, unless the apartment is public housing or you hold a co-op proprietary lease. Those are excluded by name.

Fewer than four units, and the statute's sublet right does not attach. Your lease is the document that matters. Ask in writing anyway. Plenty of owners in small buildings say yes. A no, in that case, does not become consent by silence.

Rent-stabilized apartments sit inside 226-b and also inside Rent Stabilization Code 2525.6. You have to keep the apartment as your primary residence and intend to move back. You may not sublet for more than two years in total out of the four-year period before the sublease ends. You may not charge the subtenant above the legal rent, except up to 10 percent more if the apartment is fully furnished. The Rent Guidelines Board explains the current fee picture in its subletting FAQ. Recent guidelines have not given landlords a blanket sublet surcharge. Do not let an owner invent one as the price of saying yes.

If you are a condo renter, you may have both a landlord and a building application. Do both. Board approval is not a substitute for the certified-mail request, and the request is not a substitute for the board.

Talk first, then mail

Call or email the owner or the managing agent and tell them you are leaving for a defined period, you intend to return, and you will send a formal request with a specific person attached. You will get a faster yes when the letter is not the first time they have heard your name.

Do not wait for a perfect subtenant to start the conversation. Do wait for a specific person before you mail the statutory request. The law asks for that person's name, addresses, and a copy of the proposed sublease. A letter that says "I might sublet to someone later" does not start the clock.

Find the person in parallel. Among New York sublets on Ohana that booked within six months of being published, the median time from listing to booking is 11 days, across 5,157 bookings. Your landlord's clock is 30 days. Publish when you are ready to attach a real candidate to the letter, not so a guest shows up before consent exists. The practical sequence is in how to sublet in NYC, in five steps.

What the letter has to contain

Real Property Law 226-b(2)(b) lists the enclosures. Miss one and you have sent a favor-asking note, not a request that can be deemed granted.

1. The term of the sublease.
2. The name of the proposed subtenant.
3. The proposed subtenant's business address and permanent home address.
4. Your reason for subletting.
5. Your own address during the sublet.
6. The written consent of any co-tenant or guarantor.
7. A copy of the proposed sublease, with a copy of your lease attached if you have it, acknowledged by you and the proposed subtenant as a true copy.

Send it certified mail, return receipt requested. Keep the green card, the tracking number, and a full copy of what you mailed. Email a PDF the same day as a courtesy, and say in the email that the formal notice is the certified mailing. If you only email, you do not have the mailing the statute describes.

A letter you can adapt

Replace every bracket. Do not send it until the enclosures exist.

Dear [landlord or managing agent],

I am the tenant of [apartment and address] under the lease dated [date]. I intend to sublet the apartment and I am requesting your written consent, as provided in Real Property Law 226-b.

The proposed term is [start date] through [end date]. I will return to the apartment as my residence when the sublet ends. During the sublet I can be reached at [your temporary address, phone, and email].

The proposed subtenant is [full name]. Their permanent home address is [address]. Their business address is [address, or "not applicable" and why]. The reason for the sublet is [internship, family care, a fixed-term job, a semester away: one or two factual sentences].

Enclosed are: a copy of the proposed sublease, acknowledged by both of us as a true copy; a copy of my lease; and the written consent of [co-tenant or guarantor, or "there is no co-tenant or guarantor on this lease"].

Please send your consent, or your reasons for refusing, to me at the temporary address above. I am mailing this notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, on [date].

Thank you,
[your name]

Attach a short summary of the proposed subtenant that a reasonable owner would want: how they will pay, and that they have agreed to follow the lease. You do not have to dump their entire life into the first envelope. If the owner asks for more within 10 days, and the ask is not a fishing expedition, answer it. The 30-day clock then runs from the day you provide that information.

What happens after you mail it

Day 0 is the mailing date. Within 10 days they may ask for additional information that helps them decide whether a refusal would be unreasonable. The statute says that ask cannot be unduly burdensome. "Send three years of bank statements for a two-month furnished sublet" is the kind of request you can push back on, in writing, as burdensome. "Confirm their current employer" is not.

Within 30 days of your mailing, or of the extra information, they have to send you consent or a refusal with reasons. No notice is deemed consent to the sublet you proposed. Not to a different person next month. The deemed consent covers the request you made.

If they consent, you may sublet on those terms. You are still on the hook for the prime lease.

If they refuse with reasons that a court would call reasonable, there is no sublet and you are not released. Reasonable reasons look like: the proposed person cannot show they can pay, the occupancy would break the lease's limits, the use would be something other than housing, or, in a stabilized apartment, you are not actually maintaining it as your primary residence.

Unreasonable reasons look like: "we do not allow sublets," a demand that you pay a higher rent for the privilege, a refusal because they would rather take the apartment back and re-rent it at today's price, or a refusal with no reason at all. If the withholding is unreasonable, you may sublet in line with the request. If a court finds the owner acted in bad faith, you can recover the costs of the proceeding and attorney's fees. That is a real right and a real lawsuit. It is not an invitation to move a stranger in on day 31 with no file.

If they say no

Read the reason before you escalate. A fixable no, a stronger applicant, a shorter term, a guarantor, is cheaper than a fight.

If the reason is a blanket policy in a building where 226-b applies, reply in writing. Quote the statute. Restate that you will treat an unreasonable refusal as permission to proceed with the proposed sublet, and that bad faith exposes them to fees. Then decide, with a lawyer if the rent is serious money, whether you are willing to be the test case. Many tenants in that spot offer an assignment instead and ask to be released. An unreasonable refusal to assign has a different remedy: you get out on 30 days' notice. You do not get to assign anyway. Both paths are in how to break your lease if you would rather leave than sublet at all.

If they ignore you, do not "follow up forever" and restart your own clock. The deemed-consent rule exists so that ignoring you is an answer. Keep the mailing proof. On day 31, write again, say that consent is deemed given under 226-b, and attach the same packet. Then proceed with that subtenant, not a new one.

What people book while they wait

The letter is the legal half. The listing is how the rent gets paid. 8,713 people have booked a stay on Ohana. In New York, 5,438 of them booked a sublet, 5,772 bookings in all, with a median stay of 69 nights. 72 percent of those move-ins are in May through August, which is when these letters pile up. These Ohana figures are refreshed every day.

Price the sublet from the apartment you have, not from a rumor. As of November 1, 2026, Ohana listings in New York with upcoming availability show a median of $3,959 a month for an entire home (917 listings) and $1,883 for a room (2,924). The price a guest sees includes Ohana's service fee. Neighborhood medians, one line each:

• East Village rooms: $2,622 across 133 listings. Entire homes: $3,970 across 65.
• Upper East Side rooms: $1,823 across 197 listings. Entire homes: $3,615 across 76.
• Bed-Stuy rooms: $1,489 across 261 listings.
• Harlem rooms: $1,626 across 166 listings.
• Williamsburg rooms: $2,166 across 156 listings. Entire homes: $4,976 across 21.

A composite from that pattern: a tenant mailing the letter for a twelve-week sublet lists the room the same week, names the proposed guest in the enclosure as soon as someone is ready to sign, and does not hand over keys until the owner consents or the 30 days run. The booking itself, on the median, is a 11-day event. The permission is a 30-day event. The guest waits for the slower one.

People who have stayed and left a review talk about hosts who answered. One 5-out-of-5 review: "Good communication from all parties, very kind hosts and lovely place." Another: "Incredible place, incredible location, and incredible communication." Across 1,578 reviews from people who booked and stayed on Ohana, the average is 4.8 out of 5, and 1,398 are a perfect 5. The landlord letter is how you get to be one of those hosts without a fight in the background.

Current New York inventory is on the city page. If you are pricing a room against the neighborhood, start with the East Village, Bed-Stuy, or Harlem.

Checklist before you mail

• The building has four or more residential units, or you have confirmed you are asking as a courtesy rather than under 226-b.
• You are coming back, and if the apartment is stabilized you can say that with a straight face.
• You have a named person, both addresses, a reason, your temporary address, co-tenant or guarantor consent, and a proposed sublease you are both willing to call a true copy.
• You have the certified-mail receipt and a copy of the whole packet.
• The dates in the letter match the dates in the Ohana listing.
• You have not promised the guest keys on a day that falls before consent.

Questions people ask

Can my landlord refuse?

In a qualifying building they can refuse only for a reason that is not unreasonable, and they have to send the reason. In a co-op, or a building under four units, they have a much freer hand.

How long do they have?

Ten days to ask for more information. Thirty days from the request, or from that information, to answer. Silence is consent to the proposal you mailed.

What if I do not have a subtenant yet?

Start the human conversation. Do not mail the statutory notice until you can name the person. A placeholder letter does not start the clock.

Can they raise my rent because I asked?

A market-rate landlord should not be able to condition a 226-b consent on a rent increase. In a stabilized apartment, what you charge the subtenant is capped, and a landlord sublet allowance depends on the guidelines in effect. Check the Rent Guidelines Board note above rather than accepting a surcharge because someone said it was standard.

Do I have to use certified mail?

If you want the deemed-consent rule, yes. Return receipt requested. Courtesy email on top is fine. Email instead is how the clock never starts.