A structured checklist for reviewing sublease agreements and their relationship to the master lease. This checklist ensures sublease terms do not conflict with master lease restrictions, that landlord consent is properly obtained, and that the sublandlord retains appropriate protections. It is equally useful for subtenants evaluating what rights they are actually receiving.
By Angel Campa, Founder · Updated March 2026
Used by corporate real estate teams, real estate attorneys, and lease administrators when a tenant seeks to sublease excess space or when a prospective subtenant is evaluating a sublease opportunity.
Lextract automatically extracts these fields from your lease PDF — eliminating the manual data collection underlying this checklist.
No. A subtenant's rights are limited to what the sublandlord (original tenant) can grant from the master lease. If the master lease prohibits certain uses or modifications, those restrictions flow down to the sublease. Additionally, subtenants typically do not have a direct relationship with the landlord and cannot enforce master lease provisions directly.
A recapture right allows the landlord to terminate the original lease and deal directly with the proposed subtenant when the tenant requests subleasing consent. This eliminates the sublandlord from the deal entirely. Recapture rights are most common in hot markets where landlords would prefer to sign a new lease at current market rates rather than have the original tenant profit from a sublease.
Unless the landlord has signed a non-disturbance agreement protecting the subtenant, termination of the master lease typically terminates the sublease as well. Savvy subtenants negotiate an SNDA with the landlord that converts their sublease to a direct lease upon master lease termination, providing continuity of occupancy.
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