Subletting in Israel: what it is and what the law says

Israelis say סאבלט, borrowed from English; the legal term is שכירות משנה, a sublease. It involves three parties: the tenant (the main tenant) rents the apartment to someone else (the subtenant), and the landlord stays above both of them with the original lease, which remains in force. Section 2(b) of the law sets out how they relate: “the provisions of this chapter shall also apply, with the necessary modifications, to a sublease, and for this purpose the main tenant shall be regarded as the landlord and the subtenant as the tenant” (our translation). In other words, toward the subtenant, the main tenant stands in the landlord's place.

In everyday Hebrew, sublet also means something else: owners who go abroad for half a year and rent out their own home until they're back. Legally, that's an ordinary lease. There's no landlord above them, so the section 22 consent question simply doesn't come up. Length doesn't decide whether it's a sublet either: the law sets no minimum or maximum term for a sublease.

The difference from a regular lease is who signs with whom. A regular lease is signed directly with the owner; a sublet runs through the main tenant, who still answers to the landlord. The line with Airbnb is blurrier than it looks: the law does exclude an apartment “let for holiday purposes” from its residential-lease rules, but a tenant who rents out their rented flat for a few nights is still handing it to someone else, so it's worth getting the landlord's consent for that too.

Section 22 is headed “Transfer of the lease”. Here is subsection (a), in our translation of the Hebrew text on Nevo: “The tenant may not transfer to another person the right to hold and use the leased property, along with the tenant's other obligations under the lease, or sublet the leased property, except with the landlord's consent; but if the landlord withheld consent to the transaction on unreasonable grounds, or made consent subject to unreasonable conditions, then (1) in a lease of real property, the tenant may carry out the transaction without the landlord's consent; (2) in any lease, the court may permit the transaction on such conditions as it sees fit; and in a lease of real property the court may do so notwithstanding anything in the lease.”

Subsection (b) adds the condition most worth remembering: “Consent under subsection (a), in a lease of real property, shall be given in advance and in writing” (in the Hebrew original: «הסכמה לפי סעיף קטן (א), לעניין שכירות במקרקעין, תיעשה מראש ובכתב»). An apartment is real property. So for an apartment sublet, consent has to come before the subtenant moves in, and in writing.

Bottom line: the law's default is no, unless the landlord agrees. That holds even if your lease never mentions subletting, because the requirement comes from the statute, not the contract. Still, read your lease first, because some leases allow subletting up front and some forbid it outright.

The law doesn't leave the tenant entirely at the landlord's mercy. If the landlord refuses “on unreasonable grounds” or sets “unreasonable conditions”, a tenant renting an apartment has two routes. They may go ahead without consent (section 22(a)(1)), or ask a court to permit the sublet, on terms the court sets and even against what the lease says (section 22(a)(2)).

What the law doesn't do is define a reasonable refusal. There's no list of allowed and forbidden reasons, and the lists you'll find online are their authors' own interpretation. According to Kol Zchut, whether a refusal was unreasonable is ultimately decided by a court, if one side sues. A tenant who decides alone that the refusal is unreasonable and moves a subtenant in is betting that a court will agree.

And if the landlord simply doesn't answer? No section of the law turns silence into consent, and an OK on the phone or a yes after the fact doesn't meet the “in advance and in writing” requirement. The safer route: a written request with the details (who the subtenant is and for which dates), a copy you keep, and a talk with a lawyer before handing over keys without an answer.

A sublet doesn't replace the original lease; it sits on top of it. The lease between the landlord and the main tenant stays in force, and the main tenant still answers to the landlord for rent and damage, even if the subtenant doesn't pay or breaks something. The main tenant settles up with the subtenant under their own agreement, so that agreement should spell out who pays for what.

Toward the subtenant, it's the main tenant, not the landlord, who must deliver the apartment on time and vacant (as Kol Zchut explains). Section 25טו(ג) adds an exception: when the head lease runs for ten years or less and all or part of the apartment is sublet, the duty to repair defects under section 25ח(ב)–(ג) stays with the landlord. In that same case, a subtenant who wants to make changes to the apartment needs the consent of the landlord themselves.

A main tenant who sublets without asking for consent may be treated as having breached the lease. Under section 23, the landlord also keeps the remedies of the Contracts (Remedies for Breach of Contract) Law, 5731-1970. The law has no automatic-eviction rule; what happens depends on the lease and, if it gets that far, on a court.

In 2017 a new part, “Residential lease” (סימן ו׳), was added to the law by the Rental and Loan Law (Amendment), 5777-2017, better known as the Fair Rental Law. The same amendment added subsection (b) to section 22, the rule that in a lease of real property consent must be given in advance and in writing. And because of section 2(b), some of the new rules can also apply between the main tenant and the subtenant.

Short sublets are exactly where the easy-to-miss exception sits. Section 25טו(א)(2), under the heading “Limits on application”, says the part does not apply to “a residential lease whose term does not exceed three months, where the parties have no option to extend it” (our translation). So a sublet of up to three months with no extension option falls outside the fair-rental rules, while a longer one, or one that can be extended, may fall inside them.

When the part does apply, a few of its rules change things in practice. The apartment must be handed over “fit to live in” (section 25ו), and the total security a landlord can ask for, a cash deposit included, is capped at the lower of the rent for one-third of the lease term or three months' rent (section 25י). On a six-month sublet, for example, the cap is two months' rent. And a clause that lets the landlord cancel without a breach is void unless the tenant has the same right, and then notice is at least 90 days from the landlord and at least 60 days from the tenant (section 25יג).

The first document is the landlord's consent: a short signed letter naming the main tenant, the subtenant, the address and the dates, signed before move-in. Hosts on Home Sublet can attach it to their listing: we keep the signed approval on file, and renters see the “Landlord approved” badge.

For the agreement itself, the law's Second Schedule makes a good checklist, even when the fair-rental rules don't apply to your sublet. It lists the address; the parties' names, ID numbers and addresses; a description of the apartment, furniture and fixtures; the term, any extension option and cancellation terms; the rent, payment dates and method; any extra payments; and known defects that aren't minor.

Beyond that, settle three things up front. The deposit: how much, and when and how it comes back. The bills: who pays arnona (municipal property tax), electricity, water, gas and the building committee fee (va'ad bayit), and from which meter reading. And the apartment's condition at move-in: an inventory and dated photos.

Home Sublet doesn't move money and charges renters no fee. Rent and deposit go directly to the host at the key handover, in cash or by a local transfer you've agreed. For every amount that changes hands, ask for a signed receipt.

This guide is general information about the law, based on the Hebrew text we checked on Nevo on 23 September 2026. It isn't legal advice and it's no substitute for reading your own lease. If the landlord refuses, your lease forbids subletting or there's already a dispute, talk to a lawyer.