Another thing that we negotiate at the time of a lease transaction is the assignment and sublet clause. And what is the difference? What does it mean? Why should you be concerned as a tenant?

Assignment of a lease typically means that you’re no longer going to use the property for the balance of the term and it’s going to become somebody else’s. Whether that’s because you’re going out of business, you’re merging with another business, or you just no longer need the space and need to be relieved from the obligation. You’re transferring your interest in that lease to another party.

Typically that’s not done without any ongoing liability, although that can be negotiated. But a landlord will want to make sure that whoever you’re going to transfer to, they get a right to say no, and they also get a right to see what qualifications that new tenant will have.

And there’s a whole approval process that’s built into the lease itself. A sublet is something a little bit different than an assignment. It typically means that you either don’t need all of the property you’re currently occupying.

So I want to share it with somebody else or that you have a term left on the lease you’re not going to completely let go of the property for the balance of the term but just for a short period of time and you want another tenant to come in just like an assignment.

Same thing, a landlord can have the opportunity to approve whoever is going to come in as a sub-tenant and there is a bunch of documentation that they’ll require and a procedure by which you as the tenant looking to sublet, we’ll have to follow in order to have a landlord approve the sublet.