As we pass Spring Break, most realize that summer is a lot closer than what it seemed to be a week ago.  This typically brings on a rush of concerns.  Namely, finals, graduation, and oh yes—needing to find a sublessee for the three months you won’t be living in your apartment and would like to not have to be the one responsible for rent.  Here at JSM we have a process for subleases and what we recommend to anyone wanting to sublease their apartment.  Continue reading for our tips and tricks to make the subleasing process easier for you!

Get Your Apartment Listed

At JSM we recommend that you post an ad for your apartment as soon as you are able.  The sooner that you start looking for someone, the better.  This will help your chances of finding someone to sublease to.  JSM does not find someone for you, therefore it’s important that you do yourself a favor and find someone as soon as you can.  I recommend listing on our JSM website here as well as on Facebook and Craigslist.  Also, get your apartment out there by word of mouth.  Tell your friends and tell your friends to tell their friends to contact you if anyone needs an apartment for the summer.  You would be surprised how many people need something just for May, June, and July with summer classes and other leases ending and new ones beginning.  Regardless of which site you post on, be smart.  Watch out for phishing scams asking for personal information or people who aren't serious about subleasing and simply keep dragging you on hoping you will keep waiting on them.

Meet & Discuss Terms

It happened, you found someone to sublease your apartment to, that’s great news!  Here’s what you need to do next: meet and talk.  Whether it’s via Skype, FaceTime, in person, or some other way, do your best to find a time to meet your potential sublessee face-to-face.  This is important because white texting and talking on the phone is fine, you want to know what your sublessee looks like.  You also want to get their entire name.  I can’t tell you how many times I will get a phone call to set up a sublease signing appointment and the sublessor has no idea who their sublessee is.  Not good.  Meet with them and discuss the terms.  Also, give them all the information they will need to know.  Don’t hide costs and don’t forget to tell them if there is anything they need to do to get approved to sublease an apartment from you.  Most of the time they need to go through a credit check and be approved by the leasing company just like every other tenant; JSM is one of these companies.  Ask them when they would like to move in and make sure the day they need to move out is within the parameters of the lease agreement.  Meaning—they don’t turn in the keys late and have a fee charged to the account.  When the lease ends, so does the sublease.  Also, when you meet face to face generally you can get a better feel for someone and whether you can trust them.  I don't want to scare you away from subleasing, but remember that your name and this person's name will be on a legal document together, which means you both will be liable for whatever happens with the apartment as well as all the money.  In short, if you get a bad feeling about them, do yourself a favor and move on to the next person.  Lastly, make sure that you discuss cleaning.  Generally, most people will want the apartment to be clean prior to them moving in.  If you don't like to clean, consider hiring a professional cleaning company such as Kleenrite.

Schedule the Paperwork

In today’s world, you do have the option to come into the office to sign sublease paperwork or electronically sign documents.  At JSM you have both options, so there is no excuse for why paperwork doesn’t get completed.  The last thing you want is for your leasing company to have no documents to prove that you ever had a sublessee if things go south.  Before swinging by the office, make sure to call and schedule an appointment.  If you are a JSM resident looking to schedule a subleasing appointment you will want to think of a time between Monday thru Friday between 8:15 AM and 4:15 PM.  I would recommend always calling ahead, because as we move closer to April and May the appointment schedule will be completely booked, meaning you might have to schedule for another day.  Most of the time it doesn’t set the right tone for the appointment, because not only is the office not prepared, you and your sublessee must move around your schedules once again to fit in an appointment that can take over and hour.  While having the appointment, set is important, you might also be missing details the leasing office can tell you over the phone such as: if you are doing a summer sublease you will need to pay the entire summer rent up front.  Yes, you read that correctly.  All your rent is due at that sublease appointment.  Think your surprised?  You should see some of the faces of residents when they come in and find that out.  And no, JSM won’t make exceptions.

Keep Track of Things

Just because you subleased your apartment doesn’t mean you can just brush your hands clean and walk away.  I mean… you can, but I wouldn’t recommend it.  You should keep track of your apartment and check up on the account.  If there are any late charges or missed payments you should be notified by the account manager, but you should also be concerned with warnings of lease violations.  It’s better to find out and deal with an issue long before it becomes a legal issue, because trust me, that isn’t the road you want to go down.  Because unfortunately, while you would be able to take your sublessee to small claims court or the police, your property management company can do little to assist.  Establish a positive relationship with your sublessee right from the beginning and make sure you have all their contact information.  Also, consider requiring them to pay you take a personal security deposit.  JSM recommends a minimum amount of $200 dollars.  That way, in case your sublessee causes problems or damages the apartment you can deduct that money from that deposit.  Even if your best friend is subleasing your apartment you should take a deposit of some kind.  If you are leaving the country and subleasing your apartment you may even want to transfer your entire security deposit over to your sublessee and require them to pay you some portion of the security deposit back.  That way you don’t have to deal with the security deposit check and figuring out what damages were caused by who, if any.