Subletting Question

[flamingjuly.livejournal.com]

Hey, so this isn't Davis Square specific, per se, aside from the fact that I live here. But I know a few of you are landlords in the area, and might know of some Somerville-specific laws, so I figured I'd ask:

What are a landlord's biggest concerns about subletting?

Every lease I've signed has had a point about no subletting. I get why landlords would not be a fan of having someone not on the lease living somewhere, but I feel like some people are able to make subletting work even if it's not allowed in their lease. My roommate wants to sublet her room, and I'm going to ask the landlord about it because it's worth a shot. I'd really like to address all his possible fears upfront. The person subletting would be taking over the lease once it's up for renewal, so I'm hoping that helps my case.

Thanks for any help!

Comments

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Some towns and cities in Massachusetts also used to have rent control. In places that have rent control, prohibitions on subletting are common. This avoids the scenario where the landlord rents the apartment to the tenant at below-market rent, and the tenant turns around and sublets it at market rates, and pockets the difference. To be sure, rent control has been gone since 1994, but it often takes boilerplate documentation like residential leases a while to catch up to changes in the law, especially when there isn't significant demand for it to do so. IME subleases tend to be negotiated on an informal, case-by-case basis with landlords, in cases where a tenant needs to move out-of-state for work, or just bought a house and can't coordinate the house closing with the end of the apartment lease, or similar.

(Please, let's not have a debate on whether rent control is "good" or "bad".)