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Need to break an apartment lease in CA

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sfoster

Junior Member
We have lived in our current apartment complex for 1 yr and 6 months. Six months ago we switched apartments and signed another 1 year lease. In the middle of moving day we had to take our 4 year old daughter to the ER, was then hospitalized for several weeks due to a series of strokes. Yes, our 4 year old, healthy daughter had a stroke! Since being released in September we have to take her to 1-3 appointments a week. My husband and I both work full time and have struggled to keep up this pace. My husband and I are close to losing our current jobs because we have to take so much time off of work between all of the dr. appointments. We have been trying to figure all of this out for the last few months and don't see the light at the end of the tunnel unless I quit my job. This will allow us to take care of our daughter but will also cause us to lose substantial income. We feel we have no choice but to move back to Colorado where we have a great family support system, my husband has a great job opportunity and I will not have to work allowing me to do whatever necessary for our daughter. Our financial situation is deteriorating at a fast pace and we are not going to be able to pay our rent among many other bills, medical bills, etc. They are saying that in order to submit a notice to vacate we have to come up with Rent and $1800 at the same time otherwise they won't even start the process. Needless to say we don't have the extra money to come up with and we are trying to avoid the whole eviction thing. We need advice on how to break our lease with as minimal penalties as possible or how to construct a letter to our landlord. Thanks for any help /advice anyone can offer. We are desperate and stressed!:(
 


Cvillecpm

Senior Member
Move back to CO and take care of your daughter. Let them chase you to sue you and if they get a judgement against you, file for BK.
 

pCubed

Junior Member
.

You have my sympathy. I hope your daughter gets better. I will try to be clear as possible on what will likely happen from breaking a 12 month term lease.

If you send a letter to the LL (I think it has to be 30 days notice) that you you are vacating the premises, terminating the lease, and will no longer be living there, then an unlawful detainer (aka eviction) can't be filed against you, because you're not unlawfully detaining the place. Obvious, I know. However, the LL can come after you in small claims court to try and recover any backrent, damages, and possibly a month's rent in the future for breaking the lease.

What happens is that even though you're technically responsible for the entire duration of the lease, the LL has a duty to mitigate waste. They have to take reasonable efforts to find someone to fill in the vacancy left by you. It's very unlikely any court will award the LL full damages for the duration of the lease contract.

I don't recall the exact number of months of future month's rent they can get from you, but I think the judges in CA were only giving LL's one month's future rent for breaking the lease. So really, if your rent is paid up, then the LL can only come after you for one months' future rent.

What you should keep in mind is the security deposit that you put down for your dwelling. If your security deposit equals one month's rent, like it is in most rental agreements, that offsets the damages the LL get from you for breaking the lease. So really, you'll be forfeiting your deposit to LL and that's it, provided the security deposit equals your rent.

Given your circumstances, if you politely explain to the LL your daughter's condition and you explain to them that they have a duty to mitigate waste, and they can keep your security deposit, it's possible they'll just let you off.

Again, I hope your daughter gets better.
 
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CourtClerk

Senior Member
Aside from the Landlord Tenant advise you've already received, do either you and/or your husband work for a company large enough and have either of you worked there long enough for either of you to qualify for FMLA? You can't be penalized for missing work if you go on FMLA.
 

TheGeekess

Keeper of the Kraken
IIRC, FMLA is not paid. If they have some kind of long-term disability insurance, they might be able to tap that to help cover HH expenses.
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
FMLA only lasts for 12 weeks and is unpaid, so won't help with finances. It's probably already been used up.

Your best bet to break your lease without penalties is to find a replacement tenant that is acceptable to your landlords. Otherwise you should go ahead and move, but find a way to continue paying rent until either a replacement tenant is found, or your lease expires. Maybe your family can help you out.

The landlord will be able to collect rent for EVERY month until the place is re-rented. All they have to do is show they were making a reasonable effort to find a new tenant. From what I hear, new tenants are hard to find in winter.
 
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pCubed

Junior Member
.

I am pretty sure in CA the judges usually give only 1 month's future rent from the day after the 30 days notice to vacate has passed. I am not 100% positive on this, because my mind's been so clouded lately with law school. Also, the OP is from CA, possibly San Francisco, and CA winter's are pretty mild. There probably is a slow down in the rental market, but maybe not to the level of PA.
 

Alaska landlord

Senior Member
If you decide to just take split town, I would make sure to leave a well cleaned apartment. Hopefully, this will minimize the charges that the landlord will be coming after you for. Not only do you stand to lose your deposit but they will probably file for damages and turn you over to collections. Sooner or later you will pay for breaking your lease, so you might want to take plenty of photos of the apartment before you take off
 

LindaP777

Senior Member
I would take Alaska advice, and leave a spotless apartment (show the LL that you were willing to do what is right), but I would also give them proper written notice. Give them a chance to find someone else.
The hardest times I've had collecting from former tenants is when they do not give a forwarding address . . . especially when they move out of state.
 

sfoster

Junior Member
Thanks for all the great advice and kind words. Thank goodness I'm a neat freak.....I will definately have our place clean and will most defantely give a fowarding address/ph. number. We are also checking in with a few people about taking over our lease. We are trying to do everything we can on our end right now.

And as for FMLA, we both work for small private companies so we are not able to tap into that and as someone mentioned, it will not help with the financial situation.

We are also dealing with a very large company who owns half of Orange County and from what we hear they are strict in their policies and won't budge. They expect us to pay $1800at the time that we submit our 30 day notice to vacate and terminating the lease early. We are willing to work something out with that fee but to have to come up with that on top of $2000 rent on the first of next month...well, we just don't have the extra right now. Oh, and they do have a $2700 deposit from us as well.

Well, I think I will write a letter and hope that it gets into the right hands and maybe someone will be willing to work with us. I guess you never know until you ask. Our daughters are precious gifts and we will do what ever we need to do take care of them. We are definately Colorado bound and this is just an obstacle that will take a little more effort with work through, but we will get through it. And by the way, our daughter is doing better, and I know things are going to be great for us in 2008! Wish us luck and if anyone else has anything to add we would love to hear it. We'll keep you posted. :)
 

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