Breaking an Icon Realty Management Lease: Assignment or Sublet?

Step 1 · Permission

Ask Icon’s NYC rentals team about your apartment.

Call 212-675-7100 or email rentals@iconrealtymgmt.com with the address and unit. Ask who handles tenancy changes and the owner’s consent for your building.

Say whether everyone is leaving, one roommate is changing, or you intend to return after a temporary absence. Save the reply and follow the lease’s formal notice method separately.

Step 2 · Written terms

Get the offer, application, and release conditions in one place.

• Rent and dates: the approved rent, start date, remaining or new term, and any concession.
• Application: current tenant and guarantor criteria, checklist, and submission instructions.
• Costs: an itemized quote, payment instructions, and security handling.
• Release: the agreement, required signatures and funds, and effective date.

For a roommate change, identify who stays on the lease and who needs to be released. Ask how any existing guaranty is handled.

Step 3 · Choose the route

Match the agreement to a permanent or temporary departure.

New York Real Property Law § 226-b generally requires written owner consent for assignment. Covered apartments in buildings with four or more residential units have a separate sublet procedure. Regulated and special-program apartments can have additional rules; a temporary sublet leaves you responsible under the prime lease.

Step 4 · Applicant requirements

Check the household and guarantor before assembling the files.

Ask how Icon calculates income, which evidence it accepts, what credit review applies, and which personal or third-party guarantor options are available for this transaction. Confirm alternatives for self-employment, variable earnings, a new job, or other income.

Make sure the renter is applying for the approved rent and term. Check any housing-program eligibility restrictions before presenting the apartment as available to everyone.

Track the guarantor’s readiness at the same time. A complete tenant file can still be waiting on a guarantor’s documents or signatures.

Step 5 · Apply

Prepare the tenant and guarantor checklists separately.

Use the apartment and guarantor application hub, then have the rentals team confirm the current versions and submission channel for your unit.

Ask which alternatives are accepted if a listed document does not fit the applicant. Confirm receipt, missing items, the decision contact, and the signing steps. Keep sensitive records out of public listings and showing messages.

The posted forms mention criminal-history checks. Under NYC Fair Chance Housing rules, covered providers that choose to run those checks must generally first review other eligibility and make a conditional offer, with limits on records and required procedures. Ask for the current screening instructions.

Step 6 · Find the replacement

Give prospects the actual unit and approved terms.

After permission, use current photos, an accurate layout, the approved rent, available date, and lease length. State whether the offer covers the whole apartment or a roommate change, and whether furniture is included.

Arrange occupied showings with the household and building team. Give suitable prospects the current application checklist early, and disclose any contribution you offer toward the deal.

Keep the advertised offer and application consistent. Ask management to approve changes to rent, dates, or term before revising the listing. Do not describe a prospect as approved while their review is incomplete.

Step 7 · Money

Separate screening charges from the price of your exit.

The apartment form’s posted $20 charge is an application item, not an assignment or surrender quote. Request a separate breakdown of final rent, any proposed transaction charge, move costs, security, and services ending with your tenancy.

For covered applications, § 238-a limits background and credit checks to actual cost or $20, whichever is less. A report copy and receipt or invoice are required, with a waiver for a qualifying report from the past 30 days.

Confirm each payment’s payee, purpose, amount, due date, and cancellation terms. Ask what any disputed charge covers and where it is authorized. Get separate instructions for your deposit and the incoming renter’s security; do not privately promise a transfer or use your deposit as final rent.

Step 8 · Finish the transfer

Confirm the release before the incoming renter gets possession.

Read the signed assignment, replacement-lease exit agreement, surrender, or amendment for the effective date and every departing tenant and guarantor. Confirm that required signatures, payments, and other conditions are complete.

Coordinate the move reservation, mover insurance, access, inspection, and key or fob return. Photograph the apartment, record the handoff, align utility cutoff dates, and retain the final account statement and security correspondence.

Work through permission, application, review, signatures, funds, and possession. If the applicant withdraws or signing is delayed, get revised rent and release dates before changing your move.

Find a replacement renter

I can help turn management’s terms into a listing and a qualified applicant.

I prepare the listing, manage inquiries and showings, screen prospective renters, and help the selected applicant complete management’s requirements. Management makes the approval decision. My role and broker fee are agreed in writing before marketing starts.

Send the address, rent, lease end date, preferred move date, and management’s reply.

Discuss my lease

For the broader legal options, see the NYC lease-break guide.