I live in California currently. My fiance and I signed a lease and we have not paid a security deposit. She is being transferred out of state for her job. The lease does not start until 6/1. Is it a valid agreement and what steps should we take to either
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
I live in California currently. My fiance and I signed a lease and we have not paid a security deposit. She is being transferred out of state for her job. The lease does not start until 6/1. Is it a valid agreement and what steps should we take to either
I live in California currently. My fiance and I signed a lease and we have not paid
a security deposit. She is being transferred out of state for her job. The lease
does not start until 6/1. Is it a valid agreement and what steps should we take to
either void the lease or….? The landlord is not communicating with us in a timely
manner either. We sent him and email this morning and left several messages.
Thanks
Asked on April 26, 2019 under Real Estate Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 4 years ago | Contributor
Yes, it is a valid agreement: you signed it. Once you signed it, you are obligated to it--e.g. for all the rent due under it--whether or not you moved in yet or paid the security deposit. The lease is a contract; you contractually obligated yourselves to pay rent. That your fiance is being transferred is irrelevant: once you sign a contract, changes in your own situation (e.g. being relocated) have no effect on your obligations.
You are liable for the rent due under the lease until the earlier of 1) it expires; or 2) the landlord re-rents the space. The landlord does need to make "reasonable" efforts to re-rent (e.g. listing with a broker); this is called his obligation to "mitigate," or reduce, "damages," or his loss. If he does not, the court will only (if he sues you for rent due under the lease) give him rent for the number of months the court believes it should have taken him to re-rent the space, had he made reasonable efforts to do so. That said, sometimes even with reasonable efforts, space does not re-rent promptly, you could therefore be liable for some number of months of rent, up to the full length of the lease.
If permitted by the lease, you may wish to look into whether you can sublet the space to someoene, or else do short-term AirBnB-type rentals, to generate income from it.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.