I recently had a job relocation, so I had to break my lease in San Francisco. Is my landlord obligated to make a reasonable effort to find a new tenant? He does not seem to be making an effort because:

1. He took 3 weeks to make repairs in my studio (which he said he would need to make before he would advertise the studio).
2. But then he has not advertised the studio.
3. I started advertising the studio myself on Craigslist (at a $350 discount -- I normally pay $1250, but I have been offering the place at $900), but many prospective tenants have told me he does not answer their emails or phone calls to see the place. (I'm no longer in SF, so I can not show the place myself.)
4. He said he is doing me a favor by doing anything at all, and that he is not obligated to make any arrangements to find a new tenant.
5. I asked him when he would be free to give an open house, and he gave me two dates he would be free. I then advertised open houses on these dates, but he canceled one of them, after several people already told me they would be coming to that date.
6. I confirmed with him early this afternoon that he would be showing the place this evening, and he agreed. However, several prospective tenants just called me and said there was nobody at the open house.

My landlord is clearly not making any effort to find a new tenant. What can I do?

Move out and keep a copy of this post and all docs for later in court in case he sues you for his damages. Technically you owe until the end of the lease or when a new tenant starts paying but he was to make an honest effort to rent, which he has not. So you are now in a peeing match with a skunk, you both might get smelly or he may just let you walk away, you never know.

Addendum: I actually moved out of my place on March 12 (I've been paying the rent since), and had notified my landlord I would be moving out a couple weeks before that.
Also, I just paid rent for the month of May, but I don't think my landlord has cashed it yet. Should I cancel the check?

Do not put a stop paytment on a check already given to him for May. It shows your intent to rent until at lesat then but do not pay any more.

Do not put a stop paytment on a check already given to him for May. It shows your intent to rent til at lesat then but do not pay any more.

Thanks for the help! Just to make sure: so my landlord definitely *is* obligated to make a reasonable effort to rent out the place? Do you know where I can find this in writing?
Also, you would recommend stopping all payments, notifying the landlord that I will make no further payments, and taking him to court if he disagrees? (Unfortunately, I'm in Seattle now, so going to be court will be kind of hard.)

California Civil Code Sec. 1951.4 (paraphrased): The landlord is required to mitigate his damages in the event the tenant breaks the lease. However the landlord has the right to ignore his duty to mitigate if the lease contains a statement of his intention to do so.

You can read about it at http://www.housingrights.org/renters/pdfs/breakingthelease.pdf

California Civil Code Sec. 1951.4 (paraphrased): The landlord is required to mitigate his damages in the event the tenant breaks the lease. However the landlord has the right to ignore his duty to mitigate if the lease contains a statement of his intention to do so.

You can read about it at http://www.housingrights.org/renters/pdfs/breakingthelease.pdf

Wow, thanks! It doesn't look like the lease says that the landlord has the right to ignore his duty to mitigate. The only part that seems relevant is:

"In the event of a default by Tenant, Owner may elect to: (a) continue the lease in effect and enforce all his rights and remedies, including the right to recover the rent as it becomes due, provided that Owner's consent to assignment or subletting by the Tenant will not be unreasonably withheld; or (b) at any time terminate all of Tenant's rights and recover from Tenant all damages he or she may incur by reason of the breach of the lease, including the cost of recovering the premises, and including the worth at the time of such termination, or at the time of an award if suit be instituted to enforce this provision, of the amount by which the unpaid rent for the balance of the term exceeds the amount of such rental loss which the Tenant proves could be reasonably avoided."

It actually sounds a little like the "reasonable effort to mitigate damages" the landlord must make, so this paragraph is actually in my favor?

And what actually happens if the landlord does disagree and tries to sue me? Do I need to hire a lawyer / will it be very expensive?

Well, paragraph (a) reserves his right to ignore his duty to mitigate his damages. But you can prove that he unreasonably withheld his consent to assignment or sublet by his failure to meet with or respond to all of the prospective tenants.

If you stop all payments now then the landlord may sue you. If he does you have to be prepared to go back to LA to defend yourself. If you don't then the landlord will get a default judgment against you, which will appear on your credit, and the landlord will also be able to garnish your wages and/or attach your bank account.

From what you've said here it sounds like you have a great case. If you're prepared to go back there for court, then you might want to send the landlord a letter by certified mail stating that he has not taken reasonable steps to mitigate his damages and he has unreasonably refused to consider any assignment or sublet. (List the events in detail where he didn't respond to prospective tenants and didn't show up to show the premises.) Then tell him that, due to his actions, you are no longer responsible for payment of rent. This way if it ends up in court you'll have some paperwork to show a judge.

Well, paragraph (a) reserves his right to ignore his duty to mitigate his damages. But you can prove that he unreasonably withheld his consent to assignment or sublet by his failure to meet with or respond to all of the prospective tenants.

If you stop all payments now then the landlord may sue you. If he does you have to be prepared to go back to LA to defend yourself. If you don't then the landlord will get a default judgment against you, which will appear on your credit, and the landlord will also be able to garnish your wages and/or attach your bank account.

From what you've said here it sounds like you have a great case. If you're prepared to go back there for court, then you might want to send the landlord a letter by certified mail stating that he has not taken reasonable steps to mitigate his damages and he has unreasonably refused to consider any assignment or sublet. (List the events in detail where he didn't respond to prospective tenants and didn't show up to show the premises.) Then tell him that, due to his actions, you are no longer responsible for payment of rent. This way if it ends up in court you'll have some paperwork to show a judge.

Thanks so much for the extremely helpful answers! One more question: would you advise asking for the security deposit (of $1850) back? Or simply to tell the landlord I will make no more payments? (I'd like to get the deposit back since I've already paid $1250 for the month of May, and my lease ends at the of August, so if he keeps the security deposit, I'd effectively have covered him until mid-July... But I really want this over and done with, so if that would further complicate the issue, I'm willing to let it go.)

If you stop making payments and he files a lawsuit then you should file a counterclaim for the return of your security deposit plus the return of the rent you paid for May.

If you stop making payments and he doesn't file a lawsuit but doesn't return your security then you can file a lawsuit for the return of your security. But if you do that he may file a counterclaim for the rent through August.

Let's also keep in mind thatit was you who broke the lease and the LL had done nothing wrong. He should not be damaged by your changes at work. You should try to find middle ground, talk to him before he sues you and you sue him. If you find yourself in court the judge will look at reasonable actions on both patrs.

Update:
This morning, my landlord showed my studio to a couple. (I am not sure what he is doing, but he seems to be randomly selecting people to show the studio to.)

In my lease, it states that the premises can be used as a residence for only one person. However, I'd previously asked my landlord whether it was okay if I subletted to a couple (I thought he'd told me before that the previous residents of my studio were a group of people), and he responded

"I have always avoided that because it is so small for two, but if you know someone who would like to do that, please have them send me their information and I will try and qualify them."

It sounded to me at the time (a couple months ago) that he was okay with it, as long as he found them to be financially stable. (Though now he's telling me I have to check possible subtenants' financial status myself.)

However, now that this couple actually wants to sublet my place, he is saying

"I have not approved of this sublease and I have two other people interested in the premises. Also, the master lease (yours) permits ONLY one occupant and they have two people...not an approved use.

I will let you know when Ihear from the other two people. By the way, remember that I am doing this as a favor to you and don't abuse my time. I am under NO obligation to show the premises. "

It makes no sense to me why he would have shown the studio to the couple in this case.

I pointed him to the Housing Rights pdf Lisa linked to earlier, and that he was obligated to make reasonable efforts, which he does not seem to be making, based on his open house-cancellations and failure to respond to tenants.

Any suggestions on what to do? Should I simply continue with stopping the payments if he will not be reasonable?

You have one real choice here. You can stop paying rent and when or if he sues you, you can present your evidence that he did not make a reasonable effort to rent the place.

If you decide to do this, I would place the rent into an escrow account in case you lose.

Thanks. When I called him out, saying he was not making a reasonable effort to rent the place, this is what he said:

"I have made reasonable efforts...shown to about 14 people. Unless you want to pay my expenses (bridge, gas, etc.) and my hourly rate for management, you will have to take the time that I can give. Also, you have violated every rule by giving out my personal information to the public, which I object to and is not legal without my written permission."

(I didn't realize it was illegal (?), so I gave out his phone number in my Craigslist posting, since I figured people would want to contact him when showing up at the open house he never made it to... )

I know it's hard to say, but do you think it's true that he *has* made a reasonable effort? (It has been 2 months since I left the place. I'm not sure what 14 people he has showed the place to, but I'd be kind of surprised, since a ton of people -- the most interested ones? -- have told me that he has not responded to them, and I posted the place for $900, from the $1250 I'm paying, which seems like a humongous steal that a ton of people would want.)
Just looking for some second opinions =\, since he doesn't seem to want to back down. (Though I haven't yet mentioned stopping payments.)

I think it would be very hard to prove he didn't make a reasonable effort. You would have to get depositions from all the people who responded to the ad but didn't get a response from him. And, even then, if he can show that he has shown it but that he couldn'tclose the deal for valid reasons, he's going to win in court.

As for publishing his phone number I doublt if he can prove that is illegal.

Back on post #2 you heard pretty much the same but you must be looking for another answer than the ones you have gotten. What exactly do you wish would happen?