Licence to sublet

Your landlord’s given you the go-ahead to sublet your premises. He will insist that you enter into a licence to sublet. Make sure you use the correct form for maximum protection and flexibility.

Advice

If your lease provides that your landlord’s permission is needed before you can sublet the premises, all the parties (your landlord, yourself and your subtenant) will have to sign a separate document called a licence to sublet. From your perspective, this document’s important because it confirms that your landlord’s agreed to the subletting. From a landlord’s point of view, this document is important because it creates the only direct link between themselves and your subtenant which is vital should they need to take direct action against them because they’re in breach of either the head lease or the sublease.

Costs

It’s almost a certainty that where the landlord’s consent is required in order to sublet, you’ll be asked to pay their legal costs. Try and agree a set figure, failing which, see if you can agree that you’ll only pay their reasonable legal costs.