Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Texas

Reletting Charge

My husband and I may have to move soon because of a job transfer. We did not see this coming at all, but I'm trying to be prepared and we signed a year lease. The lease says there is a reletting charge of $592 if you break your lease. It has different reasons of why you would be charged and one is if you don't pay rent for the remainder of the lease. Later on though is says it doesn't release you from continued liability for future or past due rent. We have no past due rent, but it seems contradictory. The reletting charge is for if you don't pay rent in full, but it says they can still charge you. I need some advice on what that really means.


Asked on 1/29/07, 5:30 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Sharon Campbell Sharon K. Campbell

Re: Reletting Charge

You signed a contract for a year so you are responsible for rent for the entire year. If you break the lease, you are responsible for the re-letting fee plus rent until the apartment is re-let. The landlord has a duty to mitigate its damages and try to re-let the apartment but this can be difficult to enforce. If you are in the greater Dallas area, I believe there is a high vacancy rate in apartments right now so the chances of re-letting the apartment before the lease is up are not very good.

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Answered on 1/29/07, 5:48 pm


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