Breaking an R.A. Cohen Lease: Assignment or Sublet?

Step 1 · Permission

Ask the tenancy team who handles the incoming application and your release.

Use your current property representative. The official contact page lists application information separately from bill questions and resident-service requests. Include the apartment, leaseholders, current lease end, and preferred departure.

Say whether everyone leaves, one roommate changes, or you intend to return. Follow your lease’s notice method. Ask who can issue owner consent, sign the outgoing agreement, and confirm completion.

Step 2 · Written terms

Get the approved offer and the old account’s closing terms together.

• Rent and dates: approved price, remaining term or new lease, concessions, charges, and start conditions.
• Application: current criteria, household checklist, submission route, and review contact.
• Costs: itemized charges, final rent, security, credits, and refund conditions.
• Release: when each departing tenant’s and guarantor’s obligations end.

For a partial household change, ask which amendment addresses the departing signer and guarantor. Coordinate the existing account and incoming agreement through the named tenancy contact.

Assignment or sublet?

Choose a permanent replacement or a temporary arrangement.

Assignment and subletting follow different New York consent rules. Rent-regulated and admission-restricted apartments can have additional rules or exclusions. Confirm the procedure for your actual unit before offering either route.

Step 3 · Qualification

Check the current requirements before choosing a candidate.

Ask the reviewer for the income, credit, household, and guarantor criteria for your apartment. Confirm accepted records and lawful alternatives, whether household income can be combined, and any housing-program restrictions.

Check the candidate’s dates, intended term, occupants, pets, guarantor needs, and document readiness. Have alternative-document or accommodation requests handled directly by the authorized team.

Step 4 · Application

Use the current package issued by the application team.

Request the complete checklist through the application-information contact. The public rental cover is dated September 2022; confirm which version, records, alternatives, and submission method apply to this file.

• Match the apartment, owner, approved rent, term, and proposed start.
• Identify all applicants, occupants, guarantors, and required signers.
• Have candidates submit sensitive records directly through the designated channel.
• Confirm receipt, missing items, completeness, the decision, and remaining signatures and payments.

Keep the outgoing request coordinated with the applicant file. Ask who updates the offer, old rent end, and release conditions if review or signing changes the proposed start.

Step 5 · Find the replacement

Advertise the approved terms and arrange occupied access.

Get permission to list and show the unit. Use approved rent, dates, concessions, charges, applicant requirements, and photos of the actual apartment. Confirm any renewal wording before publishing it.

• Access: agree on showing notice, hours, attendance, and keys.
• Condition: settle clearing, cleaning, repairs, and furniture staying.
• Incentives: document any outgoing payment separately from owner rent.
• Changes: get approval before revising price, dates, or term.

Keep possession conditional on approvals, signing, required payments, and readiness. Confirm the scope and fee for any brokerage work in writing before marketing.

Fees and security

Get the complete exit cost and reconcile the final account.

Ask for an itemized assignment or termination proposal showing each amount’s purpose, payee, due date, and refund conditions. Confirm what changes if the candidate withdraws or the incoming start moves.

• Final rent: your last day charged and any agreed proration.
• Security: outgoing refund or credit, incoming deposit, and deductions.
• Account: receipts, payment allocations, approved credits, and final balance.
• Services: moving costs and permitted brokerage work agreed in writing.

Route ledger questions through the bill-question contact and confirm the agreed closing terms with the tenancy team. Keep security separate from final rent and any outgoing incentive.

For covered screening, New York law limits reimbursement to actual cost or $20, whichever is less, with report, receipt, and recent-report waiver requirements. Confirm lawful current payment instructions.

Approval and handoff

Complete the release and match the final statement to the agreement.

Coordinate required approvals, signatures, payments, readiness, and possession. Ask management to confirm that the conditions for releasing you have been met.

• Check the executed agreement for each departing tenant and guarantor.
• Photograph the condition and finish agreed clearing or repairs.
• Arrange move reservations, required insurance documents, keys, fobs, and utilities.
• Provide forwarding details and retain the reconciled ledger and security accounting.

Keep the signed agreements, receipts, and completion confirmation. Update the written plan if signing or possession changes before handing over keys.

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.