Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Missouri

Re: Breaking a lease with an apartment

Generally a landlord is under a duty to mitigate damages, so he is under a duty to relet the property as soon as possible. However, the terms of your lease control the rights of the landlord, and the landlord can probably ask to collect what he wants.

However, if he were to sue you, he would have to show reasonable efforts to relet the property, and if he was unable to do so, he would not be able to collect the additional days of rent.

Have you considered subleting the apartment to someone? This is sometimes an option.

The $800 breaking lease fee seems a bit high, more like a penalty than a liquidated damages provision, but a court might enforce it, again, depending on how much the rent is per month.

Your best bet is to contact an attorney dealing with this kind of matter as soon as possible.