Sublicensing Your On-Campus Room/Apartment

The Process

• Consult your Graduate Housing License Agreement (available in your Housing Portal) to understand your legal responsibilities.
• Read the Sublicense Policies listed on the Sublicense Center website. 

WATCH TUTORIAL

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

Points to Remember

• Current residents may not sublicense on behalf of visiting family members.
• Current residents may not sublicense another apartment on-campus during the dates they are the license holder for their current assignment.
• Undergraduate students living in graduate housing and residents of Sidney-Pacific quad suites are not eligible to sublicense their spaces. 
• A resident cannot leave their MIT ID card with any sublicensee.
• Sublicensing a portion of a housing assignment (i.e. living room) is not permitted.
• The sublicensor is responsible for explaining house-specific policies to their sublicensee.
• Important: Always check your spam/junk e-mail folders periodically as some of the email correspondence may get filtered to these folders.

Sublicense Listings

• HRS Recommendation: Consider breaking down dates for sublicense periods. You can make one listing for the whole period, but will not be able to then create multiple sublicenses or have different sublicensees for that one listing, if then desired.
• The sublicensor may only advertise their sublicense on the MIT Off-Campus website. Advertising is prohibited on Craigslist, Airbnb, or other similar sites.
• Sublicenses of less than 14 days will be denied.

Sublicensor Guidelines 

• Sublicensors must first check into their assignment BEFORE they can sublicense their apartment and allow a sublicensee to begin their stay.
• You may submit your advertisement under the ‘My Listings’ tab in the navigation. Once approved, your listing will be posted and searchable on the ‘View Listings’ page in the navigation tab.
• Sublicensees will be able to search and apply to your advertisement on the sublicense listings page.
• Once a listing is approved, it cannot be edited by the sublicensor. Contact Graduate Housing, graduatehousing@mit.edu, subject line "Sublicense Update" to make changes to listings or applications.
• The Housing & Residential Services approval processes for both listings and applications may take 5 business days. (During high volume periods the approval time may be longer.)
• When a sublicensee has applied for your sublicense, you will receive an email response with a link and instructions. You can also check for any pending applications in the ‘My Listings’ section.
• Before you approve an application, agree and finalize all terms of the sublicense (i.e. sublicense dates, payment schedule, key exchange, etc.) with your sublicensee.
• After you and the sublicensee have come to an agreement, you can approve the applications online.
• Housing & Residential Services will receive notice of the approval, will confirm the sublicensee's MIT affiliation and send an email confirming or rejecting the sublicense. The sublicense is not approved until you receive an email confirmation from Housing & Residential Services.
• Housing & Residential Services will activate the MIT ID card of the sublicensee for their date of arrival. Do not leave your MIT ID card with the sublicensee.
• The sublicensee cannot occupy the space until the sublicense has been approved by Housing & Residential Services. Sublicensees cannot reside in an apartment/room outside of the sublicense period dates.
• Make arrangements between you and your sublicensee to transfer the keys. Do not leave keys with the sublicensee until the sublicense is approved by Housing & Residential Services.The front desk of the building will not facilitate this process. If keys are returned to the front desk, it will be considered as checking out for both the sublicensee and sublicensor.
• Clean your apartment and allow adequate space in the refrigerator/bathroom in order for your sublicensee to utilize all apartment facilities.
• Remove or consolidate personal items in your room.
• Inform your roommates of potential sublicensees so they are aware of who will be residing in the apartment.

Rent

• For those sublicensing in the month of August, please be aware that your rent increase takes effect starting August 1st. If this will impact your sublicense, please discuss this with your sublicensee.
• The sublicensor will continue to be billed as usual during the sublicense period and is responsible for collecting housing fees from the sublicensee.
• The sublicensor must not charge more than the monthly housing rates listed on the website for the current year. A sublicensor cannot include house tax in their rate.
• A refundable deposit, not to exceed $300, may be requested. Refundable deposits cannot be applied to rent, nor used for a cleaning fee. Charging a cleaning fee is not permitted.
• Do not accept rent for the apartment until you receive official approval from Housing & Residential Services.
• If a sublicensee backs out of a sublicense, Housing & Residential Services holds no responsibility and no rent refund will be given. If the sublicense is canceled,both sublicensor and sublicensee should notify Housing & Residential Services by emailing graduatehousing@mit.edu.
• Please remember that a sublicense agreement is between members of the MIT community and not an agreement with Housing & Residential Services.
• Housing & Residential Services does not provide receipts for reimbursements to sublicensors or sublicensees.

If you are experiencing any difficulties, please email graduatehousing@mit.edu with the subject line "Sublicense Inquiry"