Breaking a Shamco Lease: Assignment or Sublet?

Step 1 · Permission

Ask the tenancy team for the apartment’s exit options.

Use your current property contact or call 718-856-4900, the number on Shamco’s contact page. Ask for the person handling lease changes for your NYC address. Include the apartment, leaseholders, lease end, and preferred departure.

Explain whether everyone leaves, one roommate changes, or you intend to return. Follow your lease’s notice method and ask who coordinates the account, incoming review, and owner consent.

Step 2 · Written terms

Get the replacement offer and your release conditions together.

• Rent and dates: approved price, remaining term or new lease, concessions, recurring charges, and conditional start.
• Application: current requirements, checklist, submission link, and decision contact.
• Additional approvals: any unit-program or assistance-agency steps and who handles them.
• Exit: costs, final rent, security, and release of departing tenants and guarantors.

If the incoming agreement starts later than expected, ask how that affects your last rent day and release. Put the revised dates in writing before anyone commits.

Assignment or sublet?

Choose the agreement that fits a permanent or temporary move.

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

Step 3 · Qualification

Check the household’s requirements and any assistance process.

Ask for the income, credit, household, and guarantor criteria for the unit, plus accepted records and lawful alternatives. If the apartment has admission restrictions, get its current eligibility and selection requirements.

NYC source-of-income protections cover lawful housing assistance in covered housing. Ask how the team assesses the household’s resources and tenant-paid share, and who coordinates any voucher documents or agency approval. Receiving assistance alone does not identify the unit as income-restricted.

Step 4 · Application

Get the applicant package from the team handling the lease change.

Shamco’s New York page links online payments through Bilt and service requests through ActiveBuilding. Ask the tenancy team for the incoming renter’s application, current checklist, and secure submission route.

• Match the apartment, owner, approved rent, term, and proposed start.
• Include all applicants, occupants, and any guarantor.
• Have candidates submit sensitive records directly through the designated channel.
• Track missing items and any separate assistance or program decision.

Ask who confirms completeness, the decision, and the remaining signing steps. Keep the old account and incoming application coordinated through that contact. Do not share your resident login with a candidate.

Step 5 · Find the replacement

Use the approved offer and lawful applicant wording.

Get permission to advertise and show the apartment. Use the approved rent, term, concessions, recurring charges, and application requirements. Keep applicant questions consistent and do not exclude lawful assistance in the listing.

• Photos: show the actual layout and condition.
• Access: agree on showing notice, hours, attendance, and keys.
• Preparation: settle clearing, repairs, cleaning, and furniture staying.
• Incentives: document any outgoing payment separately from owner rent.

Keep the proposed start conditional on required approvals, signatures, payments, and readiness. Do not promise a renewal or agency decision that has not been confirmed.

Fees and security

Settle the outgoing account separately from the incoming household’s assistance.

Get an itemized assignment or termination proposal. Confirm each charge’s purpose, payee, due date, and refund conditions. Ask what happens if the candidate withdraws or the start changes.

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

Confirm who pays each amount; do not assume incoming assistance covers an outgoing charge or 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.

Approval and handoff

Finish the required approvals and signed release before handing over possession.

Coordinate the candidate decision, any actual agency or program approval, signatures, payments, and move access. Ask management to confirm when the conditions for releasing you have been met.

• Check the executed agreement for each departing tenant and guarantor.
• Photograph the condition and complete agreed clearing or repairs.
• Arrange keys, fobs, building move access, and utilities.
• Provide forwarding details and retain the final ledger and security accounting.

Coordinate recurring-payment changes with management and keep the signed agreements. A payment, repair response, or physical move alone does not close the old tenancy.

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.