Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

The purpose of a deposit is to provide a reimbursement fund to cover the landlord's losses in the event of a breach by the tenant(s). Here, there is a breach or at least an anticipatory breach (which occurs when a party to a contract notifies the other party that it will be breaching the contract sometime in the future). The amount and extent of refund to which you'll be entitled depends upon, among other things, how quickly the landlords can find another tenant (which they are required to attempt to do, if they want to claim any of the deposit as damages for any delay in actually finding tenants), and on what expenses the landlords incur as a result of your breach of lease, such as advertising expense. Every deposited dollar that doesn't qualify as compensation for an unavoidable loss must be returned.