Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

I signed a rental lease agreement and six days later told them I needed to break the lease before move in date. I also gave him a security/pet deposit for $700. The landlord said he was not willing to let me break the lease. I offered the deposit to him to cover any inconviences and he said no. He still has not fully moved out of the condo, gave me possesion (keys etc), had the carpets cleaned or gave me a fully executed copy of the contract. He did not sign the contract in my presence.

Where do I stand legally?

Thank you, Dana


Asked on 10/06/09, 8:10 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Melvin C. Belli The Belli Law Firm

Given the limited facts you gave,you have a valid binding agreement and they can sue you for breaking. Technically his damages would be the amount of rent that you would have had to pay him over the term of the lease. He however must mitigate his damages and therefore is required to make reasonable efforts to re lease the condo You could also do that too. A much more aggressive stand would be to not pay the rent and then he would sue you for a unlawful detainer at which point you would give him back the keys and surrender possession. As part of the unlawful detainer they would normally ask for a forfeiture of the lease, and that should get you out of it. Also if you act quickly and get the file resolved ,the file is sealed for the first 60 days so it will not ever be part of the public record.

Also it may be a leverage point in your negotiations if they failed to move out by the date you were supposed to move in.

Hope that helps.

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Answered on 10/07/09, 1:50 pm


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