It’s legal for you to sublet your rent stabilized apartment in NYC provided you adhere to specific rules and procedures. There is a limit to how often you can sublet, and you’re prohibited from charging the subletter more than what you pay in rent.
The rent stabilized apartment must be maintained as your primary residence throughout the term of the sublet. You’re also required to follow a specific procedure to obtain subletting permission from your landlord.
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There is a limit to how often you can sublet
You may only sublet your rent stabilized New York City apartment for no more than two years out of the four-year period preceding the expiration date of the proposed sublet.
This is outlined in Rent Stabilization Code § 2525.6(c):
This provision is quite similar to sublet restrictions for co-ops in that it’s designed to prevent you from perpetually renting the apartment without actually living there for a period of time.
If you sublet your rent stabilized apartment while having another primary residence, your landlord may seek to terminate your tenancy in court.
By extension, you may not buy a NYC apartment as your primary residence and then sublet your rent stabilized apartment.
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You may only charge the subtenant more than what you pay if the property is offered furnished. However, you are not allowed to charge a premium in excess of 10% of the rent you pay.
If you overcharge your subtenant, she or he may be entitled to treble damages. The tenant can file a complaint by submitting a form called “Tenant’s Complaint of Rent and/or Other Specific Overcharges in a Rent Stabilized Apartment” to NYS Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), the state agency which administers the rent laws.
Per the NYC Rent Guidelines Board, “If HCR finds that the prime tenant has deliberately overcharged you, then they may be required to refund to you three times the overcharge.”
You must follow a specific procedure to legally sublet
In order to legally sublet your rent stabilized NYC apartment, you must first share a bunch of required information with the landlord via certified mail, return receipt requested. The following items must be submitted to the landlord:
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the term of the sublease
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the name of the proposed sublessee
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the business and permanent home address of the proposed sublessee
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the tenant’s reason for subletting
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the tenant’s address for the term of the sublease
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the written consent of any cotenant or guarantor of the lease
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a copy of the proposed sublease, to which a copy of the tenant’s lease shall be attached if available, acknowledged by the tenant and proposed subtenant as being a true copy of such sublease.
We recommend submitting this information at least 60 days in advance of the proposed start date of the sublet.
Afterwards, the landlord has the right to ask the tenant for additional information within ten days after the mailing of such request.
Thereafter, the landlord has up to 30 days after the mailing of the request for consent, or of the additional information reasonably asked for by the landlord (whichever is later) to send the tenant a notice of the landlord’s response. Landlord’s failure to send such a notice within this timeframe shall be deemed to be a consent to the proposed subletting.
The landlord may not unreasonably withhold consent to a proposed sublet if the aforementioned procedure is followed.
Per NY Real Property Law – RPP § 226-b:
Tenants in buildings with three or fewer units do not have a statutory right to sublet. This means that a landlord does not have to agree to a proposed sublet.
