If you assign a friend to take over your lease and the landlord approves, what legal action has occurred?

When a lease is assigned to another party with the landlord's approval, it signifies that the landlord has accepted an assignment of the lease. In this context, an assignment occurs when one party (the original tenant) transfers their rights and obligations under the lease to another party (the friend), with the landlord's consent. The original tenant remains bound by the lease terms unless the landlord agrees to release them, but the new tenant now has the right to occupy the property under the terms of the original lease.

This distinguishes the situation from a few other possibilities. For instance, a sublease would involve the original tenant still holding onto the lease rights while allowing a new tenant to occupy the space for a period of time. In a novation, there would be a complete replacement of the original party by a new one, but here the original tenant is not necessarily released from obligations. Hence, the correct understanding is that the landlord's acceptance of the assignment indicates a formal acknowledgment of the transfer of obligations and rights to the new tenant, marking the legal action taken.