Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Can a lease contract be terminated due to medical problems?

Probably not. Not to sound callous, but it's not the landlord's fault that you cannot continue in business.

Your best approach is likely to make an overture to the landlord and ask for early termination.

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Re: Can a lease contract be terminated due to medical problems?

I'm sorry to hear about your condition. Unfortunately it will have no effect on your (or your business's) contract with the landlord.

Regardless of the explanation, a party who breaches a contract is obligated to make the other parties to that contract whole. The reason we have contracts is to give the parties some assurance of what the others will do in the future. There is generally no punishment for breaching a contract, but the non-breaching party is entitled to the benefits of its bargain regardless of why that bargain isn't being fulfilled.

In some instances a breach is legally justified, but this is generally the case only where the other party has failed to meet some of his obligations. As long as one party to a contract performs as he promised, the other parties are required to do likewise.

You should ask the landlord to release you from the contract or to make some sort of compromise. He is not required to agree, but many landlords would want to work with someone in your circumstances to reduce the burden the contract imposes.

Even if you can't get out of the lease, the amount you will have to pay the landlord may be much less than you think. Your landlord may be able to quickly find a new tenant who would pay the same rent you've been paying, in which case you might owe only the amount lost in the interim plus any costs the landlord incurred while seeking the new tenant and finalizing the deal.

You should review your lease agreement to see if it says what your obligations are in the event of a breach, and you may want to pay a lawyer to review it with you and offer some guidance.

I wish you the best of luck with your negotiations and your medical treatment.