Joanna
Other/Just Looking
San Luis Obispo, CA

I have a question about breaking a lease. We signed one starting in July and put down a deposit for a year. We are moving unexpectedly for a job and cannot move into a house but the landlord is still holding us responsible of course. He is trying to rent it but if he does not is it better for us to never claim the house and never move in vs move in and hope someone will eventually rent it and possibly be responsible for many months of rent and cleaning of the house again for new tenants. We will also lose the deposit and probably many months of rent until it gets rented. If it does get rented we can move out and probably still lose the deposit. What would happen if we broke the lease in writing and never moved in and never paid rent. He would keep our deposit but that is all we would lose which is better than moving in and paying $3900 in rent every month not living there really. Can he sue us for a whole year of rent and ruing our credit? How does this work? What should we do?