A Real Property Law student posted the following question on the College’s online education forum:
Do we need the landlord’s consent and approval in both Residential and Commercial real estate for assignment and subletting, or only for Residential assignment and subletting?
This is one of thousands of questions posted on the forums, moderated by the College’s curriculum staff. The answer is noted below:
Landlord’s consent and approval for assignment and subletting are required for both residential and commercial real estate transactions. There will be more restrictions on commercial than residential transactions, and commercial leases will be specific on the requirements.
Because a residential lease deals with a person’s home, there are more protections for residential tenants than commercial tenants.
For a residential transaction, Section 95 (2) of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, states that if a tenant asks a landlord to consent to an assignment of a rental unit, the landlord may consent to the assignment of the rental unit, or refuse consent to the assignment. In the case of a sublet, Section 97 (1) of the Act states that a tenant may sublet a rental unit to another person with the consent of the landlord (emphasis added). However, the landlord cannot arbitrarily or unreasonably (emphasis added) withhold consent to the sublet to a potential subtenant (Section 97 (2)).
Tenants are allowed to sublet or assign a lease to someone else, unless the contract lease prohibits it. For a commercial transaction, what can and cannot be done will be specified in the lease. A commercial lease may even state that the landlord’s consent to sublet may be unreasonably withheld. This would not be legal in a residential lease.
Students seeking clarification on course content are encouraged to submit their queries and participate in the various discussion threads pertaining to their courses.
Learning Tools
OREA Real Estate College provides other support services to ensure students have a positive learning experience.
Students with questions or seeking clarification on course content may contact the Instructor Support Line (toll free at 1-866-444-5557), Monday to Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Passit® study guides feature more than 1,000 sample multiple choice questions in study modes and timed exam modes. Study guides are available for the following courses: Real Estate as a Professional Career; Land, Structures and Real Estate Trading; The Residential Real Estate Transaction; The Commercial Real Estate Transaction; Real Property Law; and Principles of Appraisal.
ExamTutor© CD contains practice exams for the Pre-registration, Articling, and Broker courses. Pre-registration courses include Real Estate as a Professional Career; Land, Structures and Real Estate Trading; The Real Estate Transaction – General; The Residential Real Estate Transaction; and The Commercial Real Estate Transaction. Articling and Broker courses include Real Property Law; Real Estate Investment Analysis; Principles of Appraisal; Principles of Mortgage Financing; Principles of Property Management; and Real Estate Broker Course.
A Mentoring Kit for New Salespeople: Training for Success features three DVDs and several booklets, with ‘soft skills’ topics such as business and career planning, professionalism, time management, communication, negotiation, conflict resolution, and prospecting techniques.
For more information about the learning tools, aids, go to http://www.orea.com/OREA-Real-Estate-College/Learning-Tools.
To access the online education forum, go to My Portfolio and click on My OREA Community (Discussion Forum For Courses).
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