New Brunswick residential tenancy
New Brunswick lease assignment and roommate agreements
Consent requests, rights and responsibilities when a named tenant changes.
Assignment
A lease may require the landlord’s consent to assignment; the provincial guidance directs tenants to check Section 6 of the lease and use the official Request for Consent to Assign form when required. A valid assignment generally substitutes a new tenant who assumes the lease duties. Subletting is different: the original tenant re-rents the unit to another person but remains responsible for the existing lease. Do not treat either as an informal roommate change.
Roommates
Where multiple names are on a lease, the tenants may share responsibility for rent and damage. A roommate agreement is useful but cannot override the statutory rights of the landlord and tenant.
Keep written records of consent, inspection, deposits and the effective date of any agreed change.
Related New Brunswick resources
Before changing the named tenant
Read the consent clause in the signed lease. Ask the landlord in writing and keep proof of the response, rather than assuming a casual verbal promise transferred all legal responsibility.
Compare the original security-deposit certificate with the proposed new tenant’s payment arrangements. New Brunswick’s office manages deposits, so a private transfer of money alone may not update the provincial record.
A roommate agreement can document cleaning, utilities and rent shares between roommates; it does not necessarily release anyone named in the lease from obligations to the landlord.