Tenant and Landlord Responsibilities When Vacating a Lease

Vacating a lease can be inconvenient for both landlords and tenants, and frustrations with the property, the tenant's behavior or the landlord's administration of the property can all contribute to the desire to vacate a lease. Consequently, disputes over security deposits, notices to vacate and damages to the property commonly spring up when a tenant moves out. Both landlords and tenants have specific responsibilities -- both under the law and under their rental contracts -- that can help minimize the possibility of a dispute.

Lease Provisions

Your lease is the primary guide to your responsibilities. Leases are binding contracts, and can add additional responsibilities above and beyond those required by the law. Either the landlord or the tenant might be required to give more advanced notice before vacating a lease than required by law. Your lease can't authorize breaking the law. For example, a landlord who adds a provision in the lease permitting him to keep the security deposit even if there are no damages has broken the law, and this agreement would not hold up in court. But when leases add additional responsibilities, they are the primary governing documents.

Notice to Vacate

Both landlords and tenants are required to give notice before canceling the lease. The specific notice depends on the terms of the lease, and if your lease does not outline notice requirements, California law establishes them. Generally speaking, your landlord must give you a 30-day written notice if you've lived in the property for less than a year, and 60 days' notice if you've lived in the home more than a year. If the lease termination is due to non-payment of rent, landlords must give tenants 3 days to cure the breach before filing an eviction lawsuit, and if the tenant pays rent in that time period, can't evict. Tenants who want to move out aren't governed by California law, but by their lease agreement.

Repairs and Habitability

Landlords are required to keep rental units in safe and habitable conditions, as well as to obey any provisions in the lease. A landlord can't cancel a lease because something breaks. If something breaks in the rental property, tenants can't immediately vacate the lease. Instead, they must give the landlord reasonable time to repair the item -- usually 30 days -- and thereafter can repair the item themselves and deduct from the cost of rent so long as the repair costs less than one month of rent. If the tenant can't repair the item or the item costs more than one month of rent, tenants can vacate the lease due to the landlord's failure to obey its terms. There's no specific notice requirement for tenants vacating over repairs; instead, you must give your landlord time to fix the damage, and must provide written notice so that you can prove why you moved out if you are sued.

Security Deposits

After a tenant moves out, a landlord has 21 days to either refund the security deposit or send an itemized list of deductions, along with the remainder of the deposit. Tenants have no specific duties regarding security deposits, but conducting a walk-through both when you move in and when you move out can help ensure that there are no unfair or misleading deductions taken from your deposit.