Many people enjoy apartment living. It is a way to enjoy your life without necessarily having the hassle and expense that are commonly associated with living in or owning a single-family home. Apartments are typically rented out on an annual basis. This is great in many situations, but it can present an issue if you are going to move away from the area for a while. You might also want to keep the apartment rented while you are gone because it is in a high demand area. For many, this means that subleasing the apartment becomes an attractive option. Before you rush into that decision, consider the following four questions that you will want to have answered before you enter into a subleasing agreement.
Does Your Complex Legally Permit Subleasing?
Before deciding to sublease your apartment, you will want to make sure that it is legally permitted. Not all complexes allow you to rent your unit out to someone else while your name is on the lease. Doing so could have adverse legal implications for you, so check with your management team at the apartment complex before moving ahead.
Where Will You Store Your Personal Effects?
While you might decide to leave furniture and some items in the apartment while you are gone, there will inevitably be plenty of items you will want to put away for safekeeping until you return. For that, you will want to have a storage unit. This will ideally be a place near the complex where you can keep your personal belongings until such time that you end up returning to the apartment.
Is Subleasing Actually Worth It to You?
In the end, you will want to decide if subleasing is even worth it to you. If you have a two year lease and will be gone for six months it may be worth it to sublease. If you going on a trip for a couple of weeks or a month it may be more trouble than it’s worth. There is the worry that you will get a tenant who wrecks the apartment, leaving you responsible for the damages. You might also have difficulty collecting rent. Those are just a few of the issues that could come up that you will want to consider from the outset.
What Are the Terms of Your Contract?
Finally, you will want to look at the terms of your contract. Find out what the implications are for subleasing your apartment. Make sure that you understand those terms before you start to advertise the possibility.
Once you answer these four questions, you will have a much better idea of whether or not subleasing your apartment is something worth pursuing. In many cases, doing so is quite advantageous. You just want to make sure that these advantages apply to you and that you have accounted for any potential pitfalls in the process.
