Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

A tenant who agrees to rent a residential property for a term (one year), and leaves early is liable for breach of lease damages as explained below. Unless you specifically provided him with a written release from any damages related to the lease (which I assume you did not, or you would not be posting here), the issue of his notice, etc... is irrelevant.

When a tenant leaves before the term of his or her lease is up, the landlord has the right to recover unpaid rents from the date it was last paid, up to the earlier of the following three options: 1) the time the property is re-rented, 2) the term of the lease expires, or 3) you lose the home to foreclosure. You had an affirmative duty to try and re-rent the property, so if you did nothing to attempt to relet it, you may not get all of the past-due rent you are owed. This does get complicated by the fact that the property is in foreclosure, but that doesn't give him an excuse not to pay, it just potentially shortens the period for which you can recover unpaid rent. You are also entitled to deduct these amounts from the security deposit, along with any damages to the property which exceeded normal wear & tear. Finally, you are also entitled to the pro-rated cost of reletting the home - commissions, advertising, incentives, etc... To recover the money, you will probably have to sue him in court, and if it is multiple months' rent, you will probably exceed the small claims court maximum of $7,500. Do give some consideration to the fact that you will not be a very sympathetic plaintiff if you are losing the home in foreclosure. Good luck.

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