What happens if the landlord's mortgage lender also has to approve the lease assignment?

This can add a real extra layer to your timeline, and it happens more often than tenants expect. Where the landlord's own mortgage on the property requires the lender's consent to material lease changes — which an assignment can be treated as — the landlord may not be able to give final, effective consent to your assignment until their lender has also signed off, even though the landlord is the one dealing with you directly.

This isn't something your own lease will necessarily disclose, since it flows from an agreement between the landlord and their lender that you're not a party to. In practice, it usually surfaces only when the landlord mentions needing lender approval, or when the process takes noticeably longer than a typical assignment would.

Because this extra step is largely outside your control and can meaningfully slow things down, build in some buffer for it when setting closing timelines, and ask the landlord directly, early on, whether lender consent is part of their own process. A Treadstone business lawyer can help you plan around this uncertainty.