Upset in California

[Liliya]

A year ago we start looking for the place to live. One person was very persistent calling us for 2 months if we want to rent the place. Finally we agreed and signed the 12-month lease till august this year.

For some reasons we had to get out the lease earlier (separating). In the first week of march the LL was notified that we'll be moving out earlier, by the end of April, therefore giving him a 60-day notice. He agreed to it and start giving us the instructions what tenant to find and how much to charge, mentioning that it takes some time to find the replacement. By the end of April, we couldn't find any interested party. The LL didn't move a finger at all all this time. He even e-mailed us that he wants a tenant not adequate to us, but with the excellent credit history and who is willing to stay there for at least a year (we had 4 months remaining on the lease).

Anyway, after he got the keys, he advertised the place in the local newspaper for the first time starting 4/28/03 and for a high price (after we told him that no one is interested in a 900sq.f box above the garages and no view at all and that we are ready to pay the difference in the rent for the remaining 4 months). Well, he wanted us to pay not only for that months, but for the entire lease of the next tenant.

Later he found the broker to rent out the place, as he again didn't have any luck.

We lost in a small claims court and appealed.
1. The LL even wanted to have almost $2,000 in commissions to the broker (our rent was $1,625.00/m with remaining 4 months). He didn't want to explain where this amount is coming from. How does it get calcylated?

2. He, himself allowed to paint the wall yellow color and signed up under the statement written when he was getting the keys back that if he changes his mind about keeping that wall yellow, he'll ask us to paint it white (I was standing with 2 buckets of paint ready to re-paint it).
He never requested us to do so and went ahead and added the painting of the wall to the amount he was seeking. And, against seeing his original signature under the statement, the judge awarded that to him??

3. He asked us to pay the late fees on his own residency property taxes. Can he do that?? How are we relalted to his residence?

4. He told the judge that the new tenant moved in the middle of July, though all the ads were taken out by the end of june!

5. He advertised the place for a month for a high amount, clearly knowing that no one will get it for that price!. His attitude was that we are the ones that have to pay for the ads anyway.

6. He also was adding the late fees and insufficient funds fees to the amounts not even paid for the next 4 months!

My questions are:

How to iterpret his act as a Landlord that didn't care to find the tenant from the time we notified him? He didn't move a finger for 2 months! And he clearly knew that it takes that long to find the replacement in the current real estate market (I have his e-mails)

Did he act in a bad faith, wasting time and money (that now he is charging us) knowingly advertising the property for the amount that no one will be attracted to (2 months of us advertising for that amount and even $100-200 less proved that)? And what he did, he finally dropped the price and found the tenant after wasting 2 months.

Please, am I missing something? I read the Cal.Civ. Code 1951.2 + etc. But not sure, if I I just agree with a $5,000 judg. or figth it?

[Zamindar]

Given that you have already gone to court and lost, this is not the correct forum as such to ask your questions, if you want to pursue this matter you should see an attorney who specializes in LL/Tenant law. Unfortunately where you already have a judgment against you this is evidence against you in an appeal.