A real Wisconsin sublease agreement, e-signed in minutes.
Subletting near UW-Madison or UW-Milwaukee? Skip the fill-in-the-blank PDF. Avouch builds the agreement, gets it e-signed by both sides, collects the rent automatically, and documents move-in condition with timestamped photos, in about 5 minutes.
No account needed for the person you invite.
Can a landlord refuse subletting in Wisconsin?
On a normal one-year lease, Wisconsin law lets you sublet unless your lease says otherwise, which is different from most states.
Wisconsin Statutes § 704.09
- Section 704.09 says a tenant on a fixed-term lease (like a standard 12-month lease) may assign or sublet except as the lease expressly restricts it. Month-to-month and other periodic tenancies need the landlord's consent.
- So the first thing to check is your lease's sublet clause; if it is silent, a fixed-term tenant generally may sublet.
- You usually remain liable for rent and damage unless the landlord releases you in writing.
How it works
The address, the dates, and the rent. Avouch turns your answers into the sublease agreement.
You sign first. Then the other person signs.
They open it, read it, and sign. Sent it to more than one person? The first to sign gets the place and the other links stop working.
In Wisconsin, rent is taken from their bank and sent to yours every month, automatically. Move-in photos are saved with the agreement.
Subletting in Madison: what's different
Madison's student rental market has one of the most famous lease quirks in the country, and it shapes when and why UW students sublet.
The mid-August turnover
Nearly every student lease on the isthmus turns over in mid-August, all at once. The whole downtown moves within about 48 hours, couches on curbs, moving trucks double-parked from Langdon to Mifflin. Because leases run August to August, a student leaving in December or May still owes rent until the turnover, which is why spring-semester and summer sublets are a fact of life at UW Madison.
Study abroad drives the spring market
UW sends a large group of students abroad every spring semester, and most of them need someone to cover a room downtown from January to mid-August's lease end. Those deals usually get arranged in October and November through Facebook groups and friends of friends, fast, informal, and almost never written down. If you are the one leaving the country, get a signed agreement, a written rent schedule and dated photos of your room before you fly.
Madison has real tenant resources, use them
Madison is unusually good to renters: the Tenant Resource Center offers free counseling on lease questions, and most campus-area management companies have an established sublet-approval process. Get the landlord's written consent through their process first, then document the student-to-student side, the rent, the dates, any deposit, and move-in condition, in an agreement both of you sign.
Common questions
Is an e-signed sublease agreement legally binding in Wisconsin?
Generally, yes. Electronic signatures are legally recognized across the U.S. under the federal ESIGN Act and corresponding state electronic-transaction laws. Avouch signatures capture consent, signing intent, and attribution, and every executed agreement comes with a signing certificate.
What should the agreement include?
At minimum: both parties' names, the address, exact start and end dates, the rent amount and due dates, and both signatures. The guided setup walks you through each of these, and timestamped move-in photos document the condition of the place.
How much does it cost?
$5 once for the agreement, paid by the person leaving after the other person signs. Automatic monthly payments run in Wisconsin, and each of you pays $2.50 per payment, nothing in a month when no money moves. Stripe's charges for moving the money come out of what the receiving person gets, at cost. Paying by card adds up to 3%. No subscription and no percentage of the rent.
Sublease agreements in other states
Keep reading
Avouch provides self-help documentation tools and is not a law firm; this page is general information about subletting in Wisconsin, not legal advice, and laws change.