What's the Difference Between a Sublet and a Lease Assignment in Ontario?
You signed a year lease, and life changed: a job across the country, a breakup, a chance to travel. Ontario gives tenants two legal exits short of just breaking the lease, and they work differently. Understanding the sublet vs lease assignment Ontario rules can save you months of rent and a legal headache, so here's the plain-language version.
Sublet vs. lease assignment: the core difference
A sublet means you leave temporarily and come back. Someone else lives in your unit and pays rent for a set period, but the lease stays yours, and so does the responsibility. If your subtenant trashes the place or stops paying, your landlord looks to you
An assignment means you leave permanently. The new tenant takes over your exact lease, same rent, same terms, and you're out of the picture once it's done properly
One is a loan of your unit; the other is a transfer of your lease. Pick based on whether you're coming back.
How consent works
Both routes require your landlord's consent, and the Residential Tenancies Act referees it:
For a sublet, the landlord can't refuse arbitrarily or charge more than actual expenses for consenting
For an assignment, there's a two-step quirk: a landlord can refuse the idea of assignment generally, but if they do, you gain the right to terminate the lease with 30 days' notice using the proper form. If they allow assignment but reject your specific person, the rejection has to be reasonable
That termination right is the pressure valve, and plenty of tenants don't know it exists. A landlord who flatly refuses everything hands you a legal exit. Details and forms are at the LTB.
Which one fits your situation
Going away for a semester, a contract, a long trip? Sublet. You keep your unit, your rent, and, in a rent-controlled unit at below-market rent, that's worth protecting.
Leaving for good? Assignment beats lease-breaking almost every time, because your obligations end cleanly. It's especially valuable when your rent is below market: the lease itself has value to the next person, and your landlord may prefer a fresh market-rent lease, which is exactly why the law gives you the assignment path.
This isn't legal advice. Sublet and assignment disputes turn on paperwork and timing, so get advice from a paralegal, lawyer, or community legal clinic for your situation.
Doing it properly
Put everything in writing: the request to the landlord, the consent, and the sublet or assignment agreement itself
For sublets, screen your subtenant like a landlord would. Their behaviour is your liability
For assignments, make sure the assignment document actually transfers the lease, not just the keys
Keep copies of everything, including proof of the dates
Never just hand off the unit informally. An unauthorized occupant situation is bad for everyone, including the person you left behind
Common mistakes
Subletting when you're never coming back, leaving yourself liable for a stranger indefinitely
Accepting a landlord's flat "no" on assignment without knowing it triggers your 30-day termination right
Informal arrangements with no paperwork, which unravel at the worst moment
Paying illegitimate "assignment fees" beyond the landlord's actual reasonable expenses
Confusing either process with breaking the lease, which is a different conversation with different costs
If your rental situation is changing because you're buying, or you're a landlord fielding one of these requests, reach out and I can point you the right way. More rental posts live in my Renting category.
Rules current as of July 2026. Confirm current forms and rules at the LTB before acting.
