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Assignment And Subletting Of Leased Premises: The Unreasonable Withholding Of Consent, Jacob L. Todres, Carl M. Lerner

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The law generally does not favor restrictions on the alienability of property and holds that a tenant may assign or sublet a lease, unless the lease specifically provides otherwise. For instance, courts will enforce the parties' bargain, and uphold provisions in a lease that states that it is non-transferable or that it is transferable only upon the landlord's consent. However, if a lease states that the landlord will not unreasonably withhold consent to a transfer of the lease, when is a landlord's refusal to give consent unreasonable? This article examines the common law parameters of determining unreasonableness, and finds that …