Do tenants need consent to sublease?

Question

If I’m a tenant and my landlord lets me have my camper on the property, do I need my landlord’s permission to lease the camper? How might the answer change if the agreement is informal—for example, if it’s just for a close friend and we agree for the friend to pay me $500 a month? If possible, I prefer answers based on Washington State’s jurisdiction.

Answer 1

If I’m a tenant and my landlord lets me have my camper on the property, do I need my landlord’s permission to lease the camper? How might the answer change if the agreement is informal—for example, if it’s just for a close friend and we agree for the friend to pay me $500 a month?

Most written leases require the landlord's permission to sublet. But in the absence of a lease provision prohibiting subletting, subleasing is generally allowed without the landlord's permission.

Subletting does not, however, release the tenant from any responsibilities that the person who subleased the property assumed. Effectively, the tenant is a guarantor of the obligations which the person who subleased the property assumed.

This said, even if the sublease is permitted by the lease, the sublease may violate local land use ordinances. For example, many cities do not allow someone to live in a camper on property that is zoned as single family residential, even if the camper can be lawfully parked on the property. Also, as a default rule, it is generally a breach of the lease to violate land use laws and use the lease property illegally, even if the lease doesn't expressly say so (although most written leases do say so).

Similarly, if the property is in an HOA, many HOA covenants would not allow someone to live in a camper on property (most would also prohibit parking it there), and a sublease purporting to do so would likewise usually breach the lease even if it doesn't expressly say so.