Can I be charged the difference in rent if I break my lease early

[Robert Cowart]

My LL and I agreed to term our lease early so that my wife and I could buy our own house. We gave her plenty of notice and kept her in the loop as to when we were buying a new home and when we were moving out of the rental. We had 5 months left on the lease(May '17 term) when we moved out, we paid rent for Jan. The LL has found a new tenant that will occupy the house mid Jan. However, she is charging the new tenant $150 less per month. So, the LL is trying to have me pay $150/mo through May to make up the difference. What are my options? She has our security deposit and a prorated amount of our Jan. rent. We are located in Texas.

[Bill S.]

@Robert Cowart without more details the answer would generally be yes. You are financially responsible for the lease until it ends. I have a couple thoughts. Dec/Jan is not a great time to rent property but $150 less per month in rent is a lot. At the same time, if you were paying more than market rent and the landlord held out you could have been on the hook for Feb rent which would have likely amounted to more than the $600 total you are on the hook for now. My guess is that the landlord made their job easy by giving the new tenant a sweet deal at your expense. Doesn't seem fair but it can happen. Strike it up to a life lesson. 

The only question would be whether or not the landlord also charged the new tenant rent for January. The landlord can not collect your Jan rent and then charge the new tenant rent for Jan as well. Now having said that, terms are important. Perhaps in your termination agreement or the lease, the January "rent" was really a "termination fee". The dollar amount is not important, the terms are important. Dig out your paperwork and read it carefully.