§ 7-5. Subletting when you have a fixed-term tenancy agreement
If you have a tenancy agreement for a fixed period — for example two years — you can sublet the rest of the period with the landlord's approval. If he refuses without a legitimate reason, you can terminate the tenancy agreement with ordinary notice.
Machine-translated from Norwegian. The Norwegian text is the one that applies. Read the original in Norwegian.Norsk English العربية Polski Українська
The text of the law (unofficial translation)
If the tenancy agreement has been entered into for a fixed period, the tenant may sublet for the remainder of the rental period with approval from the landlord. If approval is refused without the subtenant's circumstances giving legitimate reason for it, or without the rented premises clearly becoming overcrowded, the tenant may terminate with notice as mentioned in § 9-6.
What does this mean?
A fixed-term tenancy agreement (tidsbestemt leieavtale) is binding — as a rule, you cannot simply give notice of termination (oppsigelse) in the middle of the period. But life changes, and sometimes you need to get out of the tenancy agreement (leieavtale) anyway.
§ 7-5 gives you a solution: you can apply to sublet (framleie) the rest of the period to someone else. In practice, you then transfer your tenancy agreement to the subtenant for the remaining time.
If the landlord (utleier) says no without a legitimate reason (saklig grunn): You then have the right to terminate the tenancy agreement with the ordinary notice period (oppsigelsesfrist) under § 9-6 — normally three months. This is an important safety valve: the landlord cannot bind you to a tenancy agreement you cannot get out of and at the same time refuse subletting without reason.
What is a legitimate reason? The same as elsewhere — something concrete and documented about the person in question, or that the premises will clearly become overcrowded. The landlord cannot say no just because he does not like the idea of a new person.
Examples
Sara has one year left of a two-year tenancy agreement, but gets a job in another city. She applies to sublet the rest of the period to a colleague. The landlord says no — without giving any concrete reason. Sara can then terminate the tenancy agreement with three months' notice, even though the contract actually runs for another year.
Marius has six months left of the tenancy agreement and wants to sublet to a friend. The landlord checks the friend and finds that he has two previous evictions (utkastelse) on his record. That is a legitimate reason to refuse. Marius cannot terminate on that basis — he must either find another subtenant or live there until the end of the period.
Common mistakes
- Believing that the landlord's no is final. If it is without a legitimate reason, you get the right to terminate.
- Giving notice without applying to sublet first. You then lose the argument — apply to sublet, get a refusal, and then give notice.
What should you do?
Apply to sublet in writing. Give reasons for the application and state who you want to sublet to. If you get a no without a legitimate reason, send a written notice of termination with three months' notice and refer to § 7-5. Keep all communication.