Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
I am preparing to relocate from a condo we are leasing in Tustin, California to the San Diego area for a new job. We signed a 12 month lease that ends in March 2011 and we are trying to rent our condo to someone else to get out of our lease, which our landlord has agreed to. However if we don't get our condo re-rented, we are told that we are responsible for the balance due though the end of the lease term. Is this true? Is there any maximum amount that an individual can be held liable for when breaking their lease? Our concern is that once we move, it will be difficult to maintain our continued payment for both the place we have moved from and the place we are moving into. My wife and I have perfect credit and we want to avoid any legal problems. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
3 Answers from Attorneys
If a tenant vacates before the end of the lease term, the landlord must take all commercially reasonable steps to re-rent the property. The departing tenant is on the hook for the rent until the unit is re-rented, if the landlord takes all such steps. If the landlord does not take the necessary steps to re-rent it, then the departing tenant does not owe the rent.
The landlord must take commercially-reasonable steps to re-rent the property if he wishes to claim damages for lost rentals. If the landlord decides to take the unit off the market for repairs or to use it himself, there is neither an obligation to try to re-rent nor a right to sue the breaching former tenant for lost rents.
What Mr. Whipple and Mr. McCormick refer to are known as "expectation damages." They come from contract law, which states that a party who has been aggrieved by a breach of contract is entitled to the benefit of his bargain. The injured party, however, is required to cover their losses by re-entering the market.
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