I have a question with my property manager on sublet or assign. I am in Toronto, Canada. I have written an email about

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Just a general disclaimer that this conversation is for informational purposes only. I am licensed Canadian lawyer; however, you would need to retain a lawyer to take any legal action and/or preserve any of your legal rights. I may be away from my desk from time to time, but rest assured I will always return back as soon as possible.

Good evening –  can you please tell me the brief facts of your issue and your legal question?

To break a lease early, you have 4 options:

1. Come to an agreement with the landlord to end it

2. You can sublet your lease to someone else (with landlord’s permission)

3. You can assign your lease to someone else  (with landlord’s permission)

4. You can go to the landlord tenant board and ask them to break the lease early and provide evidence that the landlord substantially breached your rental agreement

When it comes to subletting, the landlord cannot unreasonably deny a sublet request. If they do, then you can go to the landlord tenant board and seek an order to terminate your tenancy.

If you want to assign it to them (they legally take over your lease instead of a sublet which is a temporary take over) and the landlord unreasonably refuses your request, then you can serve the landlord with a 30 day notice to end the tenancy under s. 96 of the Residential Tenancies Act.

If they don't have an income or credit history, then they could ask for a co-signer, proof of family support or perhaps prepaid rent. If they are offering the cheques upfront, then their risk is lowered.

It would suggest that they would make for reasonable tenants on a financial basis.

Did you have any further questions about this issue?

5 months upfront seems sufficient, in my opinion at least.

If they refuse, then you can serve your notice to end the tenancy. The landlord could either accept it, or challenge it at the tenancy board.

It seems excessive given several months are being paid up front.

You would need to request it back. If they refuse, then you would need to go to the landlord tenant board. This could take some time to get a hearing date.

Thank you for using JustAnswer. I wish you the best of luck. If you have any follow up questions about this matter, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

You're welcome.

I think you should speak to your roommates and let them know that you will be leaving if you cannot assign a person and they will lose all say in who their new roommate will be. That might prompt them to work with you to find a solution.

You could do that, but your roommate will likely oppose this if it were to go to the landlord tenant board.

You're welcome.