How to sublet your Ann Arbor apartment while you study abroad

Usually, yes, if your landlord and your roommates agree. A semester abroad is the easiest sublet to plan, because you know the day you leave and the day you come back. It is also the easiest to leave half done, because you will be on another continent when something goes wrong.

Most Ann Arbor leases allow subletting but require written landlord approval, and some charge a small re-let fee. A few prohibit it outright. If yours does, ask the landlord whether they will make an exception for a semester abroad, and get the answer in writing. The university's Dean of Students office gives the same advice for any sublease: make sure your landlord and roommates agree in writing.

Work backwards from your departure date. The checklist below puts the whole job on a calendar and shows who holds each task.

Start three months before you leave. Winter semester sublets post mostly in November and early December, so a student heading out in January is already on the clock by fall.

Here is the countdown, with the person who holds each task:

Your lease is the document to read, not a summary of one. Leases commonly say whether subletting is allowed, whether the landlord must approve it in writing, and whether you stay on the hook for rent and damage while someone else lives there. Plenty of leases say you do, and the person on the lease is the one the landlord calls. If a clause is unclear, ask your landlord, or ask the city or a lawyer if the stakes are high. This guide describes what leases commonly say. It is not legal advice.

Put the money terms in writing too. The Dean of Students office says to put exactly how rent and utilities will be split in writing and to use the official sublease contract template on the university's off campus housing site.

Decide this before you board the plane, because a leaking sink does not wait for your time zone. Four people each have a job:

Write the plan down in one message that all four of you can see. If rent stops or a repair is ignored, that message is the first thing you will want. Money is where the plan breaks most often. Pick one payment method that leaves a record, agree on the due date, and set a reminder for that date.

Never take payment by wire transfer, gift card or cryptocurrency: the FTC says these work like cash and are usually very hard to get back. Payment apps are not much safer with someone you have not met, and the FTC explains how to act fast if something goes wrong.

Not yet. Meet the person, in person if they are in town and on a live video call if they are not. Ask for a reference you can actually call, and see if your roommates would be fine living with them. The same screening that works on a stranger works on a friend of a friend, so do it for both.

The university's Dean of Students office puts one rule bluntly: never send money before seeing the property in person. It is written for renters, and the flip side is just as true. Do not hand over keys to a person you have not met, and do not accept a deposit from someone who cannot show who they are.

If a stranger offers to pay the full semester up front by a cashier's check or a wire, stop. The FTC lists wire transfers, gift cards and cryptocurrency as major scam signals. On Wroomly, students who sign in with their umich Google account carry a blue check. That tells you a university Google login was used, and nothing more, so you still meet them and still put it in writing.

Decide what stays before you list, and put it in the listing. A furnished room rents faster, but anything you leave is something you are trusting a stranger with.

Check your renters insurance policy for what it covers when someone else lives in your room. Some policies treat a subletter differently, so ask your insurer, and ask whether the subletter should have their own policy.

Write a short list of the shared stuff: wifi password, trash and recycling days, how the heat works and who pays for what. It saves ten messages a week. Winter is the hard part, so tell the subletter whose job it is to clear the sidewalk and where to park overnight.

The security deposit is the piece people forget until the end. Your landlord holds the deposit on the lease, and that usually does not change because you sublet. Decide with your subletter whether they pay you a separate deposit, how big it is, and what it covers, and write it into the sublease. The photos you took before they arrived are what settle the question on return day.

Plan the handover as carefully as you planned the start. Two weeks before you land, confirm the move-out date with your subletter, and agree on where the keys go and when. If your flight is delayed, a roommate can take them.

On return day, walk the room together with the photos you took before you left. Check the walls, floors, appliances and furniture, note anything new, and settle the deposit while you are both standing there. Then tell the landlord the sublet is over and send them a short note so the record is clean.

If the subletter wants to stay on, that is a new conversation with the landlord, not a favor you can grant. Do not agree to extend until the landlord has said yes in writing.

Open your lease, find the subletting clause, and email your landlord asking for their sublet process. Then message your roommates your dates. Once you have those two answers, list your place free or browse who else is looking right now, and use the table above to keep every task in someone's hands. Wroomly is independent and not affiliated with the University of Michigan.