Even though you may not be here enjoying our beautiful Blacksburg summers the lease goes on and your landlord and room-mates will expect the rent to be paid. Unless your lease specifically gives you permission to sublease it is necessary for you to seek and receive your landlord's permission to sublet. Your landlord mught have a form that needs to be completed and returned and your landlord might charge a sublet fee.
Some landlords require that all room-mates sign the form and approve the chosen sublessee.
Other landlords only require that the orginial tenant and the subtenant sign their form. However you also remain the tenant that you started out to be. Therefore, if you subtenant c auses damatge, fails to pay rent, or otherwise breaches the lease and can't and won't pay the damages, your landlord can and will hold you responsible. In most instances, your landlord will not return your security deposit to you until your lease expires and damages can be awssessed. There is nothing that requires a landlord to do a walk through and assessment between you leaving and your subtenant arriving.