Following last week’s posting about what Ruminations would call a misunderstanding regarding the economic theory behind the freedom to assign a lease, we received some calls to discuss how an assignment differs from a sublease. Given the frenetic activities involved in getting ready for this past weekend, Ruminations was happy to comply by taking advantage of what seemed like easy pickings – republishing a snippet from a piece written in 2008.

An assignment is not a subletting, and vice versa. The underlying considerations are not the same. By assignment, the new occupant – the assignee – becomes the tenant itself. Its right to possession of the premises is grounded in real property law—the law of conveyances. [Read more…]