Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

We have a 2 year contract with our landlord that was started in august 2013. The contract expires at the end of July 2015. We did not have a termination clause in the contract and the contract does not allow subletting. We are now looking to move as we made an offer on a home and it was accepted. The land lord wants us to break the lease by paying 3 months termination fee. We find that unreasonable as there will be just 7 more months on the lease and feel that the landlord is taking advantage of our situation. We are looking to settle for something less and we are looking for legal advice that could help us here.

Asked on 11/07/14, 2:53 pm

Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

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If the three months rent equivalent being requested by the landlord as compensation for your early departure is a termination fee

which is not part of your lease, it should be invalid and therefore

unenforceable by your landlord.

If the landlord can relet this unit after your departure within a month,

one month's rent + any reasonable additional costs associated with securing a new tenant should be quite enough (in my opinion).

(Under Virginia law, the landlord is required to

mitigate his damages occasioned by the premature departure of

a tenant by making reasonable efforts to secure a replacement for the

tenant who has terminated his lease before its term is up.)

Answered on 11/10/14, 9:04 am

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