1. Start earlier than feels necessary
The best subletters get taken early. If you're leaving for spring semester, start looking in October; for summer, start in March. Waiting until finals week means choosing between a bad deal and paying rent on an empty room.
2. Look where students actually look
- Your school's Facebook housing groups, still where most deals start.
- Campus sublet boards, if your school has one.
- Friends of friends: one group-chat message reaches further than you think.
- Screen for basics: a real profile with mutual friends, a video call, and no pressure tactics. Someone rushing you to take a deposit sight-unseen is a red flag pointed at YOU, too.
3. Get your landlord's consent, in writing
Almost every student lease requires the landlord's written approval to sublet, and some ban it. Read your lease, then email the leasing office and keep the reply. Skipping this step is how subletters get locked out mid-semester and how you end up liable for it.
4. Put the actual deal in writing
The landlord's form covers the landlord. It does not cover what happens between you and your subletter, the rent amount, due dates, exact start and end, any deposit, utilities, guests. A sublease agreement both of you sign is what turns "yeah for sure" into something you can point to in November.
5. Never run money on memory
Write the payment schedule down, log every payment against it, and be suspicious of anyone who wants to prepay everything instantly or pay with a check for more than the amount owed. Venmo with no written schedule is how disputes start; a logged schedule is how they end before they begin.
6. Photograph everything at handoff
Timestamped photos of every room, appliance, and existing scuff, taken at move-in and shared with both sides, are the cheapest insurance that exists. They settle the deposit conversation before it becomes a fight.