App to help you find sub-tenants

Four months into a one-year lease and you have to urgently move out of a rented property. Chances are you would lose a huge chunk of money. Now, a new app is here to find you a suitable sub-tenant.

A tenant generally signs a lease or rental agreement with a landlord.

A sub-tenant, on the other hand, is someone who sub-leases or rents all or part of the rental property from a tenant and does not sign a lease or rental agreement with the landlord.

The app called Flip, currently testing for iPhone only, connects tenants who want to get out of their leases with people who want to take them over, reported www.citylab.com.

Flip app hinges on the concept of "leasehold interest", treating the lease as an "asset" that a tenant can buy, sell, or transfer.

Flip farms this task out to third-party freelancers, who check your credit and assess your fitness as a rental applicant.

Tenants can assign whatever prices they want to their leases. If you find a lease that works for you, contact the tenant directly.

The whole understanding is between the tenant, the replacement and the landlord. Flip stays out of it.

In a sub-lease, the current tenant remains on the lease and collects rent from the sub-tenant to pay the landlord.

Developed by Susannah Vila, a Columbia MBA student, Flip can help tenants avoid some of the costs of moving out, while lease seekers get information about apartments before they are on the market.

Just one glitch though: usually, sub-lease or assignment is only permitted with the written consent of the landlord. Without it, you are breaking the law.

The app is free but there is a $50 review fee.