Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Washington

Re: Breaking a lease after signing and agreeing

Generally the lease contract is a valid enforceable agreement as soon as it is signed. This entitles you to the full benefit of the contract. If you do not receive the full beneift of the contract from another tenant, then these tenants would be responsible to you for any financial losses. Thus if you can't find a new renter for two months, these tenants will be liable to you for two months' rent. You have an obligation to try to re-rent the property and minimize your losses so you must try to re-rent the place.

If I represented the tenants I would look for things that made the contract conditional upon some occurrence. I might argue that the contract was not meant to be binding unless a payment of a deposit or rent payment was actually made. I might look for something about the property that was not as it was represented. However, these arguments might be useless since there is a signed lease agreement.

In summary, as a general rule the contract is enforceable immediately upon signature. It is possible that they might have a defense to the contract, but that depends on the circumstances.