ending lease early

i want to get out of a 1 year lease 6 monthes early, there is no early
termination clause in the lease, but two of the extra forms they have
address termination. they state tht if you terminate the lease you need to
give 30 days notice and you will lose your security deposit. i called to
give them a heads up that i would be sending in the 30 day notice and they
said that i would have to pay rent until they found somone else to rent and then i would get my security deposit back. i asked them where i the contract it said that and they siad it wasnt on there, that it was an arizona state landlord tenant act thing. if i move out will i actualy be responsible ot pay rent until they find somone to rent it? one form is the deposit refunds form, its says to notify 30 days prior to last rent due date. the next sentence is word for word. "NOTE: you must complete full lease term or your entire deposit may be forfeited."

The lease does not state the law. It states your landlord and tenant understanding 'under the law.' Your lease (I would imagine) does not stipulate various states of habitability, it just ensures that the appropriate party attends to their respective responsibilities.

Based on CA law, yes, that sounds correct. You can break the lease with 30 days notice. He can keep your security deposit as well, under state law because you did not complete the terms of the lease. He can charge you rent for whatever "reasonable" time frame he/she requires to reoccupy the lease. By reasonable, this means that he cannot double the rent for a new tenant, or begin construction and, thus, make the property substantially unrentable. Of course, going to court to prove what he may or may not do in that time frame, is another story entirely.

I don't know where the above reply come from, but the poster is WAAAAY off on his answer.

First, the applicable law is AZ law, not CA law. BIG difference! AZ is LL-friendly, CA is Tenant-friendly. If there is no early termination clause within the lease itself, plan on being responsible for the rent for a little while. You cannot terminate a legal contract early for your convenience. AZ law does require that the LL take reasonably prompt steps to re-rent the property and limit your liabilities, but that doesn't mean they have to put your unit ahead of any other unit that is already vacant. So it may sit empty for a couple of months while you pay for the rent while they look for a tenant.

Those clauses don't give you a way to break your lease. The clause in the deposit return form only ensures that you give 30 days notice before you leave. It does not intend to mean 30 days notice before you break your lease, only 30 days notice prior to your leaving at the end of the lease or on a month to month tenancy. The other clause says "or your entire deposit may be forfeited". Note the "MAY". It doesn't say you CAN break the lease and you WILL forfeit the lease. It only warns you of one possible penalty for breaking the lease. Neither of these allows you to break the lease.

He can charge a new tenant whatever rent he wants. As long as it is not excessive for the market rates and he attempts to get at least the same amount as what you were leasing for (note the "reasonable" term above). If he cannot rent it for the same amount, and must take less rent in order to get a tenant, you will owe the difference in rent for the rest of the lease period. If he rents it for the same or more, you're off the hook (so to speak). The unit must be available to rent during this period.

AZ also has an automatic garnishment law. If the LL pursues you for unpaid rent while the unit sat empty because you broke your lease, the court will automatically deduct the amount from your wages anywhere within the state. If I remember correctly, up to 25% of your wages can be garnished.

The other thing wrong here is that they cannot hold your deposit for the months it takes to re-rent the unit. Your deposit is due back within 14 days of when you vacate. They can deduct for any rent that would have been owed during that time. So if the month's rent was due during those 14 days, it can be deducted from your deposit. If someone else rents the unit during that month, you are owed a pro-rated return of those days when another tenant rented the property.

yikes--i am confused now

I don't know what is confusing. Poster #2 answered the question by citing CA law. However, the original poster stated that "it was an arizona state landlord tenant act thing." CA law does not apply to AZ. Only that state's law is applicable. Perhaps poster #2 misread the post or was answering by citing his own state's law. Either way, it is not applicable to the original post. The 3rd post speaks to the AZ state law statutes.

It is simple. You cannot terminate a lease early without penalty. There are only 2 approved ways to terminate a lease early without penalty and you do not meet either of them. One is to be a victim of domestic violence (in some areas), the other is a service member deployed or transferred for a duty assignment. All other people who break a lease face a penalty of some sort. You will be responsible for the rent until re-rented, the advertising costs, unpaid utilities that will be the responsibility of the LL if you don't pay them, agent fees if the LL uses one to find a new tenant, and any other unreimbursed fees.

Whatever you don't pay, you can be sued for in small claims court. Any judgement the LL receives for these will be automatically garnished from wages in AZ. So to answer your question, "if i move out will i actualy be responsible ot pay rent until they find somone to rent it?" Yes.