All Forum Posts by: Flor Sulpacio

You are right about the Termination of lease clause.  I found it     Thank you once more.

Early Lease Termination Fees

A lease with a clause the makes a tenant pay a set amount for breaking their lease early is illegal in this state. California caps what the landlord can recover when a tenant breaks a lease; they can only recover the actual damages suffered because of the termination of the lease. The landlord must mitigate the damages to re-let the property as soon as possible at the same rate. If the rental market is tight and the landlord can re-let the space right away, then the landlord hasn't experienced any major damages due to the breach.

Thank you so much for your reply.  Greg 

We have a rental with military tenants, 4 months into a one year lease they want to know if they can break the lease so the 14 month old child can have a yard.  I only charged 1/2 of the rent for a security deposit and waived the pet fee.  The condo has brand new flooring, paint and carpet,dishwasher and fairly new with a lake view. Ulit in 2015.   Being in the military myself and for the tenants really wanting the condo we waited over a month prior to them moving in and listened to them that they will be the greatest tenant ever. Etc..

I  don’t want to give them a hard time but I also want it to be fair to me.  This is the third tenant and we have not experienced anything like this before.  Lessons learned for the next tenant to include an early lease termination agreement to actually write out what the consequences will be for example one or two months  rent plus security deposit etc.  

I need advice on what to do.  Should I work with them to try to get new tenants to replace them and for them to stay till we find a tenant?  Or should I have a termination fee of 2 months rent plus security deposit.?    Pls advice,