Hi aroot,
First, a standard disclaimer: This is just general information.
Google Answers does not provide legal advice.
The short answer is "probably not." The lease obligates the tenant to
pay the rent for its full term, and there doesn't seem to be any easy
way to avoid that obligation. In the rest of this answer, I'll refer
to the tenant as "you." I apologize if this is not accurate.
You have several options. The landlord may be willing to let you off
the hook, or you may be able to negotiate a mutually acceptable
settlement.
There are a couple of ways someone else could take over the apartment
and responsibility for the rent.
If the lease allows it, you could sublet the apartment. The
replacement tenant would be responsible for paying rent to you, and
you would still be responsible for paying rent to the landlord.
Or, if the lease allows it, you could assign the lease. That means
another tenant takes your place and deals directly with the landlord.
In either of these cases, it would be in your interest to find this
successor tenant, to relieve you of the rent obligation.
If none of this works out, the landlord is still obligated to try to
rerent the apartment, and once he does so, you are no longer
responsible for paying rent. However, you may be responsible for
advertising costs, or the difference between your rent and a lower
rent paid by the replacement tenant.
For more details, I'll refer you to some web pages.
This page from the Renter's Legal Assistance web site has a good
overview of the law.
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~asucrla/ra/lease2.html
It's excerpted from the California Department of Consumer Affairs
publication "California Tenants: A guide to residential tenants' and
landlords' rights and responsibilities." The link to the PDF version
of this document is broken on the Renter's Legal Assistance page.
Here's one that works.
http://www.dca.ca.gov/legal/landlordbook/catenant.pdf
The material on subleases and assignments is on pages 23-24.
This page from MSN House and Home emphasizes negotiating with the landlord.
http://houseandhome.msn.com/Rentals/BreakingaRentalLease0.aspx
A previous answer here on Google Answers has some relevant information and links.
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=12010
I hope this information is helpful. If you need more information,
please ask for a clarification.
Good luck,
--efn |
