Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Re: I want to break my lease

You probably cannot do it without going to court at some point. The question of whether or not you have the right to terminate your lease early is one of fact, and would require a more thorough analysis of your situation, and the lease itself, which cannot be done on this forum. Assuming you have legitimate grounds for early termination, then you would need to follow whatever procedures may be set out in your lease for termination for cause of your lease. If there are no provisions in the lease, then you would at a minimum have to give the landlord notice of your intent to leave, and the option of correcting the problems that lead you to beleive that you have the right to terminate. When they say no, you leave on the date provided for in your notice, and then get sued for the breach of the lease. Your defense would be, assuming you can prove sufficient facts, that you had a right to an early termination, either under the lease, or under some other legal theory. Its a gamble - there is no guarantee that even after having the specific facts of your case reviewed, a judge will find in your favor. The other option would be to file a lawsuit to terminate the lease, and have a judge decide in advance of your leaving that you have grounds for termination. In either case, this is headed to court if you leave early - I can almost guarantee that.

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