Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Missouri

Re: Need out of lease!

This is one of those situations where your remedies are partially controlled by the lease, and partially controlled by common law. Your lessor has an obligation under contract law to mitigate his damages, so he has to relet the property and continue to try to relet the property. As such, if he can relet it to someone else and does so a week after you move out your damages are limited to that weeks rent, any liquidated damages or agreed upon penalty payments in the lease notwithstanding. The law will try to protect the lessor's reasonable expectations, but it will not reward him for doing nothing (e.g., give him six months rent for not re-renting) and it will not require you to pay the full six months rent when someone else is renting the property.

Your best bet is to move out and leave the property in as good a shape as possible. If at all possible, give 30 days notice and actively assist the landlord in showing the apartment. Give all the help you can, and keep a record of the help you gave. Within 30 days of the end of your tenancy your landlord has to give you a written itemized statement that shows how he applied your security deposit. If he fails to do so he becomes liable for 3 times the security deposit.

Your wages can only be garnished if he gets a judgment against you for back rent. If you actively assist with getting the property rented, etc., they most likely will not do that.

Landlords like to threaten, but the law tends to favor the tenant in many instances.

Keep in mind I have not seen your lease, and if your lease waives any of these provisions of the common law, this advice may not apply to you. To be certain you should take your lease to an attorney and obtain advice after you give him or her all the facts.