Q: I'd like to leave my lease w/ 6 months left in a rent-stabilized apartment in NYC. How to sublet, assign, or break it?
My lease doesn't allow sublets or assignments. I asked, and they said no. I've considered using Real Property Law Section 226-b, but would like to know more about the process before proceeding? Additionally, the lease says nothing about "breaking" the lease or a penalty involved but mentions I will default on the lease if I move out before it ends. What does this mean in regards to a request to break the lease?
A:
DearBrooklyn Tenant:
Initially, you must have a lease and a tenancy in a building with at least four apartments for NYS Real Property Law Section 226-B to provide you with a right to sublease.
"...2. (a) A tenant renting a residence pursuant to an existing lease in a
dwelling having four or more residential units shall have the right to
sublease his premises subject to the written consent of the landlord in
advance of the subletting. Such consent shall not be unreasonably
withheld..." [https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/RPP/226-B]
Many NYC residential forms of lease caught up with the changes in New York Landlord and Tenant Law made over 40 years ago, but if you have a lease that does not mention the right to sublease then you live in a building with less than four apartments or your landlord used a form of lease that is more than four decades out of date.
No New York City form of residential lease informs a tenant how to break the lease. The most modern and pro-tenant forms of New York lease will inform a tenant about the landlord's duty to mitigate damages [https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/RPP/227-E] should the tenant up and go and leave with tie left on the lease and months of rent still to pay.
An act of default is the same as a breach. The most common defaults in substantial obligations of tenancy are subleasing without permission and moving out with time left on the lease. In both instances, the NYS Legislature enhanced tenant rights. A tenant may 'cure' a breach of the lease even a sublease without permission even when the time to correct a lease default ran out according to the lease even if the tenant is in an eviction lawsuit. And now when a tenant simply packs and goes without securing a release from the landlord the Law places the burden entirely on the landlord to deal with the tenant's breach by getting in a new tenant.
Please follow up with more information.
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