Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Texas

Lease breaking

I am trying to move out of an apartment i have to breake the lease ,they want me to pay a relenting cost which is 85% of the rent which is 396.00 amonth and to continue to pay rent untill it is rented which will be at the end of August also because it was a 99.00special move in they want me to pay another month of rent to cover that by the time its over with im going to be paying 770.00 or more if they dont rent it quick. Can they hold me to all of this? At the last minute they changed it to where we have to pay our cable , they said that was not breaking the lease they had the right to change that at any time , but if we break it we pay all that . Can they do all of this or can i walk away and not have to worry about all the money and what they can do.


Asked on 7/06/04, 7:19 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Sharon Campbell Sharon K. Campbell

Re: Lease breaking

The short answer is yes. If you break a lease, you are responsible for the re-letting fee, rent until the apartment is re-let, to payback any specials, and for any damages. The landlord does have a duty to try to mitigate its damages by trying to re-let the apartment, but in the market in the DFW area, vacancy rate is high so chances are even if landlord is diligent about trying to re-let the apartment, it may take a while to re-let the apartment. Responsibility for cable depends on your contract. Bottom line is you signed a lease agreeing to pay rent for a certain length of time - they can hold you to it.

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Answered on 7/06/04, 7:38 pm


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