How to break a lease in California without penalty

Every legal way out of a California lease

These are the situations where California or federal law lets you end a fixed-term lease early. Each one has its own notice and paperwork, covered below.

Domestic violence, sexual assault and other crimes

The notice must come with one piece of documentation: a protective order, a peace officer’s report, a statement from a qualified third party (such as a doctor, therapist or victim advocate) on the form set out in the statute, or other documentation that reasonably verifies what happened. It has to be given within 180 days of the order, report or act. A landlord who ignores this right owes actual damages plus statutory damages of $100 to $5,000, and a lease clause saying otherwise doesn’t change any of it.

Military orders

The protection also covers a dependent on the lease. Prepaid rent for the period after termination must be refunded within 30 days.

When the landlord won’t make the home livable

Section 1932 says the same thing more broadly: a tenant may end the lease when the landlord doesn’t, within a reasonable time after a request, put the home in good condition, make repairs, or keep the tenant in quiet possession. This is the exit for problems like no heat or hot water, broken plumbing, a roof that lets rain in, or a rodent or insect infestation that the landlord won’t fix. It turns on proof, so give notice in writing, keep dated photos, and ask the city or county code enforcement office to inspect.

When the home is destroyed

After a wildfire, flood or earthquake that leaves the unit unlivable, you don’t owe rent for a home you can’t live in. Put the termination in writing and ask for your deposit back under the usual 21-day rule.

An automatic renewal you never agreed to

If your lease rolled into a new year-long term because you missed a notice deadline, check the formatting. Ordinary print means you can void the renewal and leave at the end of the original term.

If no exit applies: what leaving early costs

In practice that means you owe rent until the unit is re-rented, or would have been if the landlord had tried reasonably, plus reasonable re-renting costs. An example:

• Rent is $2,800 a month, and you leave with six months left.
• You give 30 days’ notice and the landlord lists the unit right away.
• A new tenant moves in five weeks after you leave, at the same rent.

You owe about five weeks of rent (roughly $3,250) plus reasonable advertising costs, not $16,800 for the rest of the lease. If the landlord lets the unit sit empty, you can argue that most of that loss was avoidable.

One exception to watch for. If your lease includes the § 1951.4 remedy and lets you sublet or assign subject only to reasonable limits, the landlord may keep the lease in force and collect rent as it comes due. In that case finding a subtenant or assignee yourself is the way out.

Why a flat lease-break fee is usually void

A landlord’s loss from an early move-out (rent until the unit is re-rented) can usually be calculated, so a flat fee like this is hard to defend. The landlord can still recover what it actually lost. A clause saying your deposit is forfeited if you leave early fails for the same reason, because the deposit can only cover actual unpaid rent, damage and cleaning.

Breaking a lease in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and San Jose

Early termination in California is set by state law, so every exit above applies in every city. Two cities add rules for one specific situation: the landlord paying you to leave a rent-controlled unit.

Los Angeles: buyout offers in rent-stabilized units

You never have to accept a buyout. If you were planning to move anyway, though, a buyout turns breaking your lease into being paid to leave.

San Francisco: buyout negotiations

San Diego and San Jose

Neither city adds its own early-termination rules, so the state exits and the § 1951.2 re-renting limit are what decide your costs. San Jose’s tenant protections and San Diego’s just-cause rules protect you from being forced out, but they don’t change what you owe if you choose to leave.

How to leave, step by step

1. Find your exit. Check the table above. If one applies, collect the documents it needs before you give notice.
2. Read three clauses: the early-termination clause, the subletting and assignment clause, and any automatic-renewal clause (check its formatting).
3. Give written notice by the method your lease names, and keep a copy. Name the statute if you’re using a legal exit. Use a lease termination letter template.
4. Help the unit re-rent. Offer to show it, and send the landlord any qualified applicants in writing. Every week it stays empty can become your cost.
5. Get any deal in writing: the final amount, the end date, and a statement that you owe nothing further.
6. Document the move-out with dated photos, return every key, and give a forwarding address so the deposit and itemized statement reach you within 21 days.

For the clauses California won’t enforce in the first place, see illegal lease clauses in California, and for other states, the early termination rules by state.