Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

Re: Can a landlord prohibit me from subleasing?

In general, as a DEFAULT, a landlord may not prohibit subleasing. It's a little bit against "public policy". By "default", I mean, with nothing "said" to the contrary. But landlords like to override the default and they generally put it into every lease they can when they remember, and I believe it's in most standard leases. In commercial cases, it is often STILL illegal, but for residential property, it's clearly legal (for a landlord to "prohibit" a sublease). The counterbalancing policy is that landlords of residential property ought to be allowed to "know" who they're dealing with (first, before it happens) for two reasons: this person has responsibility in the care of his valuable real estate and also has fiscal responsibilities to the landlord, who presumably assessed somehow your creditworthiness or honor. Those, two, are good reasons.

Some leases say that a tenant must ask permission to sublease and that the landlord's permission shall not be unreasonably withheld, which means the landlord has to have a good reason not to allow it.

Instead of a sublease, sometimes (rarely in residential) a tenant such as yourself can transfer the lease to another tenant for the balance of the lease, and the tenant recognized the landlord as his landlord, a so-called "attornment".

Another possibility: what if you continue to pay the rent yourself, but collect it from your "friend" and stay responsible for the damage (if any) and all other responsibilities, etc.? Will the landlord necessarily know? (Is the landlord closer?) Are you going to be away for the summer, too far to be able to check up on your "friend"? Are there any "guest" restrictions written into your lease? Sometimes there's a definition of a guest as someone who stays overnight more than 15 days / week, other times there's no definition, so maybe you'll have a 3-month guest. Is there a parking problem also? You can see what I'm getting at.

There's an entirely different approach. You have me write a certified letter on my letterheard (or some lawyer more near if you're not near Boston or Newton) offering to let him meet the candidate for your replacement, requesting a timely certified letter in response suggesting times you can meet; if you get a refusal or no response, you can stop paying rent to him (pay it to me, and I keep it in escrow to be able to show the court) and leave. I defend any suits that are brought against you, I keep a third, and you get the rest back; I might also get attorney's fees added on by the court. Why? Litigants have a duty to mitigate their damages before bringing an action in court, and by not filling the place with your candidate or anyone else, he has more or less "created" damages that wouldn't have had to be, and then he loses in court. (I tell him all this in advance.)

Fax the lease to me at (617)527-1763 if you like.