Q: We gave our landlord a 90-day notice that we were breaking our lease (no specified lease-break fee).
Now, 14 days before move-out, he says we are on the hook for rent until he finds new tenant. But for 2 1/2 months he has not advertised/tried to find new tenant, nor did he mention this the entire time even though we gave him official notice and he acknowledged it. Do we really owe him 7 months rent (till end of 12 months) if he doesn't find a tenant? Thank you.
A: Likely yes though the only way to really know is to thoroughly review the lease and notice. IF you are on a fixed term lease, it was nice of you to provide notice but doing so does nothing to change your legal liability. You contracted to occupy and pay rent through the end of the contractual lease period. If you are breaking the lease early, and there is no specified early termination penalty in the lease, you are generally on the hook for the continuing rent, as it becomes due (not all up front now) until either a new tenant is contractually bound for the same unit's rent or your original lease expires, whichever comes first. The landlord, however, must use reasonable efforts to re-rent the unit in order to have you liable for the continuing rent. You also can be liable for advertising costs, any difference in rent between your monthly rent and whatever it is re-rented for if less, and associated other expenses. He is not obligated to start attempting to re-rent until you are actually out and restore possession to him. Questions? Review it all with a local landlord-tenant attorney. Good luck.
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