They gave me a categorical "no" when it came to assignment of lease. The lease documents I signed do not say that it is not allowed, and maybe it was just this one person at the landlord's office didn't know the entire policy, but she seemed pretty familiar with it (she said they allow subleases as long as they last no more than 6 months but they do not allow for lease assignments).
This is a non regulated building with 450 tenants in a high rise in the UWS. I am quite sure one company owns and manages the entire building.
I looked on this site: http://www.tenant.net/Tengroup/Metcounc/Mar96/sublet.html which made it seem like the landlord is not allowed to do so (though the link is from March '96, so the law may have changed).
According to that link (
Your landlord has the absolute right to deny your request to assign, and you have no right to appeal that decision. You then may not assign. However, in certain circumstances, you do acquire the right to cancel the remainder of the lease. In response to your assignment request, your landlord may either (1) not respond, (2) deny your request without giving a reason, (3) deny your request unreasonably ("I only rent to professionals"), or (4) deny your request reasonably ("Your proposed assignee only earns half of what you do and cannot afford the rent"). If your landlord responds as in (1), (2), or (3), you have the right to cancel the lease within 30 days from the date you gave them your assignment request. If your landlord under (4) denies the assignment "reasonably," you cannot cancel the lease. There is obviously plenty of room for interpretation of what is "reasonable."
Your written request should both give the landlord notice of your intent to move and propose assignment to a specific person with detailed information about the proposed assignee. Many landlords are happy to release tenants from their leases, because it gives them the opportunity to get a rent increase sooner. If your landlord tells you that you can break your lease, get it in writing.
I was hoping to at least get them on board with this before I went through the rigamarole of trying to find an appropriate person to assign the lease to.
But assuming I go ahead and find a person, the link above says I need to provide information about the prospective new tenant. What "detailed" information do I need to provide the landlord in my letter?
Would it be wise for me to send them a registered letter outlining my intention to assign the lease (say starting August 1) to an undetermined party as long as that person meets their existing credit / screening process and see what their process is, or do I need to find a specific person and provide a whole bunch of info to the management company?