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Residential Tenancies Act 1986

Tenancy agreements - Rights and obligations of parties

43B: Assignment of tenancy by tenant

You could also call this:

“A renter can give their lease to someone else if the landlord says it's okay in writing and follows any fair rules.”

You have the right to assign your tenancy to someone else during your rental period. This means you can transfer your rights and responsibilities as a tenant to another person. However, you need to follow some rules when doing this.

You must get your landlord’s written permission before assigning your tenancy. Your landlord might set some reasonable conditions that you need to follow when assigning the tenancy.

If you assign your tenancy without getting your landlord’s written permission first, you’re breaking the law. The same applies if you’re in a special type of tenancy mentioned in section 53B(1)(a) and you break the rules described in section 43A(2).

When you want to assign your tenancy, you should write to your landlord asking for their permission. In your letter, you need to tell your landlord who you want to assign the tenancy to and provide their contact details. Your landlord must reply to you in writing within a reasonable time. If they don’t do this without a good reason, they’re breaking the law.

Your landlord isn’t allowed to say no to your request without a good reason. They also can’t set unreasonable conditions. However, if your landlord offers to end your tenancy on fair terms instead of letting you assign it, this isn’t considered unreasonable.

If your landlord says no to your request because of discrimination (which is explained in section 12), this is against the law and is seen as unreasonable.

Remember, these rules don’t apply in some special situations described in section 43A(2).

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS451316.

Topics:
Housing and property > Renting
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43A: Effect of provision prohibiting assignment by tenant, or

“Rules about tenants sharing their rental with others, and when landlords can say no”

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43C: Effect of assignment by tenant, or

“ When a tenant hands over their rental agreement to someone else, they're no longer responsible for it, but they still have to deal with any problems from before. ”

Part 2 Tenancy agreements
Rights and obligations of parties

43BAssignment of tenancy by tenant

  1. A tenant may, at any time during the tenancy, assign the tenancy—

  2. with the prior written consent of the landlord; and
    1. in accordance with any reasonable conditions attached to that consent by the landlord.

      1. Subsection (1) does not apply in the circumstances described in section 43A(2).

      2. A tenant commits an unlawful act if the tenant assigns the tenancy—

      3. without the prior written consent of the landlord; or
        1. if the tenancy is a tenancy described in section 53B(1)(a), in contravention of a provision described in section 43A(2).

          1. If a tenant makes a written request for the landlord’s consent to an assignment and the request identifies, and includes contact details for, the proposed assignee, the landlord must respond in writing to the request within a reasonable period of time.

          2. A landlord who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with subsection (4) commits an unlawful act.

          3. The landlord must not—

          4. withhold consent unreasonably; or
            1. attach any unreasonable conditions to the consent.

              1. A landlord’s consent must not be taken to have been withheld unreasonably if, instead of consenting to an assignment, the landlord offers to accept a surrender of the tenancy on reasonable terms.

              2. A landlord’s consent must be taken to have been withheld unreasonably if the withholding of the consent is an unlawful act under section 12 (discrimination to be unlawful act).

              Notes
              • Section 43B: inserted, on , by section 24 of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 59).