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Early Termination vs LL Renting

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Early Termination vs LL Renting

Postby Jamphx » Wed Nov 10, 2021 10:13 pm

My wife and I recently bought a house, so we are discussing breaking our lease 3 months early. We signed a early termination clause (2 months rent). However, Arizona law dictates that Landlords must search for another tenant and if they find one then they cannot collect from us and them. Because it was an early termination clause vs the landlord simply asking us to pay for the additonal rent, are we having to pay the 2 months or will they be forced to look for a new tenant?

For Reference here is the Law I am asking about:
This is because under Arizona law (Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1370), 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. So you may not have to pay much, if any additional rent, if you break your lease. You need pay only the amount of rent the landlord loses because you moved out early. This is because Arizona requires landlords to take reasonable steps to keep their losses to a minimum—or to "mitigate damages" in legal terms.
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Re: Early Termination vs LL Renting

Postby TenantNet » Thu Nov 11, 2021 4:07 am

NY has a similar statute where if a tenant leaves prior to the end of the lease, the LL must seek (make reasonable efforts) to mitigate their economic losses, i.e., look for a new tenant at the same or lower rent. If a lower rent, then theoretically a LL could seek the difference from the prior tenant. In practice, it's rare that rents go down. While the pandemic has created unexpected vacancies, that seems to be over as demand is rising.

In most areas (and not knowing the AZ law itself), the statute itself would trump any provision of a lease.

Depending on your situation and if the LL is unreasonable, consider negotiation. You might be right on the law, but the LL could pull you into an expensive court fight.
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Re: Early Termination vs LL Renting

Postby Jamphx » Thu Nov 11, 2021 7:21 pm

Awesome, thank you for the feedback!
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