Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

If you have notified the landlord that you will not be occupying the premises and have returned the key, the landlord is now obligated to take all reasonable steps to re-rent the unit. If he does so, you are on the hook for the rent between the start of the lease and when the new tenant starts paying rent. If the landlord does not, or takes an unreasonably long time to get a new tenant into the unit, then you have a fight over how long it should have taken, since that is all the rent you will owe.

See if you can get someone to take your place as a renter, even if it means discounting the rent a little for them. You can also seek to sub lease but that is more dangerous because the tenant might not pay you every month. Even though you have a 6 month lease, the landlord must attempt to mitigate his damages by trying to rent the unit out as soon as he can. Most judges give landlords about one month to do so. Pay the landlord one month's rent and tell him you might pay 1-2 weeks more if he is not honestly able to rent it out.