QQ ABT Broken lease - Tampa, FL (lease agreement, tenant, security deposit)

[Lynn0704]

I recently broke a written lease agreement with an individual owner, not a complex. The lease has nothing stated about the tenant owing if the agreement is broken, yet they are trying to collect rent. I have surrendered the security deposit, had the place professionally cleaned and fixed everything that was broken while I stayed there. It looks better than when I moved in. I notified the landlord over 3 months in advance that I would be moving out.

My question is, since the lease has nothing about consequences if the lease is broken, am I legally responsible? I can quote the lease in a later post if that would help.

[johnrex62]

Yes. Even absent language in the lease to that effect, you are responsible for the entire rent until the end of the lease or the landlord has another tenant, whichever occurs first. You should contact your local housing authority to see if there are any specific rights in your area, but in general this is how it is in most areas.

The lease is a contract that you promised a certain amount of money if they let you live in the apt with certain amenities. You broke the lease and terminated the promised monies before you had paid the entire amount. As long as the property is vacant, you "still have the capacity" to use it. I realize that is not practical and the landlord probably wouldn't let you anymore, but the law sees it as if you still have the ability and have illegally deprived the landlord of his income. So, until the landlord cures his damages with a new tenant, you are still responsible for your rent payment.

Now, the landlord has a legal duty to try to rent the place as quickly as possible to reduce his damages. If this goes to court, and you can demonstrate that the landlord did not try to re-rent the apt, the judge could limit the amount of rent you owe due to their lack of trying so you might not owe the whole rent for the remainder of the lease. But you would probably owe a bunch of it.

The fact that you gave 90 days notice before moving counts greatly in your favor. It does not, however, eliminate your obligation.

This sounds like you tried to be very reasonable in your breach of contract. You should have gotten something in writing from the landlord releasing your from your contract due to circumstances. That would have helped also to limit the legal remedy to what was agreed upon in the pre-breach communications.