Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: lease break

I assume you mean a residential lease, but there are also commercial real-estate leases and personal property leases for cars, equipment, etc.

Leases (of all types) are a species of contract and as such most of the usual contract rules will govern what amounts to a breach and what the non-breaching party's remedies are.

Residential leases are also subject to some statutes and some court policies that modify the usual contract rules in some areas -- mostly in favor of the tenant, but to some extent helping the landlord.

In general, the landlord is responsible for keeping the premises tenantable. Repeated failure to keep the premises tenantable is probably a breach that justifies a tenant breaking the lease, but the term 'tenantable' means less than many tenants believe. See Civil Code sections 1940, 1941, 1941.1, 1941.2 and 1941.3 for starters. The Codes can be reviewed at county law lbraries or many general public libraries.

If the landlord materially breaches the lease, the tenant can often treat the breach as a ground for moving out and ceasing to pay rent. I would caution you not to do so without ample prior notice and confidence that a landlord responsibility recognized by the law was truly breached. You can always be sued and forced to defend yourself even if you're in the right, and getting your deposit refunded can be a hassle.

If you "break your lease" (an imprecise phrase, not a proper legal term) by ceasing to pay rent (with or without moving out) before the lease expires, YOU are the breaching party, and you remain liable for all the remaining rent under the lease until the unit is re-rented for the same or higher rent, or could have been re-rented if the landlord had made a reasonable effort. If the place re-rents for less, you are liable for the difference up to the expiration of your lease. The re-renting limitation on damages is called "mitigation of damages."

There are some other oddities including some arising from local rent-control and tenant's rights ordinances, but this is a thumbnail sketch within the scope of the e-mail medium.