Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

The lease is the lease and it says what it says. It can be for 15 months, nine days and three hours, if they want and you sign it. So if your lease says it ends 13 months after your move-in date, that's when it ends. If you move out at the 12 month mark, you will still be liable for the rent for the 13th month unless they move another tenant in before the 13th month is over, in which case you would only owe pro rata for the time of the vacancy.

One has to look at exactly what the lease says. If it gives two different periods of time that the lease lasts then there is a conflict; if it is ambigious as to which period of time applies, that lack of clarity is held against the party that wrote the terms of the lease so if there is a reasonable reading of the terms that is more beneficial to the tenant than landlord, that interpretation is used. If the lease clearly states it is for 13 months,or says it is 12 months plus one free month, then it is for 13 months. Without my seeing the lease I do not know what the reasonable reading is.

Both answers are essentially correct, but in my view Mr. McCormick's will lead you to the right decision.