Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

If the unit is occupied it is "rented" and your obligation to make any additional rental payments is ended. That the landlord has "waived" the payment of rent does not matter as to your responsibility. The landlord has a reasonable time to re-rent the premises; since the landlord must mitigate damages, he is not automatically entitled to the entire balance of the lease, only for the amount that would cover what it would take to find a reasonable replacement renter.

Mr. Sher's is correct. The landlord can only charge you rent after you surrender the premises if he makes all "commerically reasonable" efforts to obtain a new tenant at or above the rent you pay.