Subletting
Subletting is when someone enters a contract with you to rent and live in your home. We've created this guide to explain when you may sublet and how to register your interest.
Subletting for leaseholders
If you own 100% of your home, you should be able to sublet without any issues. However, we always need to check the terms of your lease to make sure there are no hidden restrictions.
There is a cost involved for us to review your lease and progress your subletting request – and depending on the terms of your lease, a Notice of Underlet may be required as well.
To see the full list of our administration fees, please download a copy:
To register your interest, please email our Subletting team.
We’ll reply by sending you a Subletting Occupancy form. Please complete the form and return it to us to begin the formal process.
Once you have our consent to sublet your home, we ask that you keep in regular contact with your tenant and that you terminate their tenancy if they breach the terms of the lease. We can take legal action against you as the leaseholder if we receive complaints or have concerns that lease conditions are not being kept.
If your lease does not allow subletting, but we own the freehold of your property, we may be able to amend the lease via a Deed of Variation. This document legally and permanently amends your lease to allow you to sublet – subject to our requirements. Please note, you’ll be responsible for all costs involved, including your legal fees, our legal fees, and an administration fee for us arranging the Deed of Variation.
When we do not own the freehold, we’ll check our Head Lease to see if subletting meets the Freeholder’s requirements. However, we’ll be unable to amend your lease if the Freeholder does not allow subletting.
We have a panel of independent solicitors who would be willing to act for you and they all offer preferred rates to L&Q residents:
Subletting for shared owners and equity loan holders
If you’re a shared owner or you bought your home with the help of an equity loan, your lease or legal charge does not permit you to sublet.
That’s because we're obliged to protect the government funds provided to help you buy – by making sure the property is your main and only home.
We may consider a subletting request under extremely exceptional circumstances. For example, when:
- you accept a work secondment to a different location which requires you to move home and you’ll lose your job if you do not accept the offer*
- you're the next of kin or sole carer for a relative and need to provide full-time care (30+ hours per week)
- remedial building safety work is required on the building meaning that the property cannot be sold or is unmortgageable
- remedial building safety works required on the building are likely to last for more than 12 months
*Choosing to accept a job offer abroad or in another location is not classed as a job relocation.
We’ll only review requests in line with the above criteria and all requests are assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Please do not make any arrangements unless you've received our formal approval, as subletting requests are not guaranteed.
To make a request, please email our Subletting team.
Holiday lets
Under no circumstances may homeowners holiday let or ‘host’ their homes through companies such as Airbnb or Booking.com – this includes the whole or part of your property.
We're sorry, but we do not allow holiday lets because they can cause noise disturbances, potential nuisance from holiday-makers and impact the safety of existing residents.
Your lease agreement also states that you may not use the premises for business purposes.
Frequently asked questions about subletting
To find out more about subletting, please visit our help and advice pages.
Location set
You can change the location near the bottom of the page