Breaking a lease means leaving before the lease term ends without paying the remainder of the rent due under the lease. The consequences of breaking a lease depend on whether the lease has an early termination clause and the steps taken after moving out. Here are some things that can happen if you break a lease in California:

• If you have a lease early termination clause, you can break your lease early in exchange for paying a penalty such as one month’s rent.
• If you do not have this clause and break your lease, you will be liable for your landlord’s damages. This includes the unpaid rent until the unit is occupied by a new tenant and other costs such as advertising, showing the unit, and background and credit check fees.
• Your landlord can sue you for the unpaid rent you owe under the lease agreement. If a judgment is obtained against you, it will be on your credit report for seven years. If the landlord instead turns the unpaid debt to a collection agency, you will have a collections account on your credit. This will damage your credit score.
• Prospective landlords may contact your previous landlords for references and find out you broke your lease. A history of breaking leases is a red flag to landlords who may not want to rent to you.
• If you dont have a legal justification to break your lease, the good news is that you might still be off the hook for paying all the rent due for the remaining lease term. This is because under California law, your landlord must make reasonable efforts to re-rent your unit—no matter what your reason for leaving—rather than charge you for the total remaining rent due under the lease.
• The bad news is that if the landlord tries to rerent your unit but cant find an acceptable tenant, youll be liable for paying rent for the remainder of the lease term.

In California, landlords or property managers usually allow their tenants to break the lease early as long as they pay a penalty fee, which is usually equal to two months of rent, and the tenant should give their landlord at least 30 days of notice. There are some cases where California tenants could end the lease without any penalties, such as if the unit is uninhabitable or if the landlord repeatedly violates their rental agreement terms.