Lease break cost calculator
Breaking a lease early is rarely as expensive as the lease makes it sound. Most US states require the landlord to mitigate damages by making reasonable efforts to re-rent. Enter your numbers to estimate realistic exposure.
Typically 1-3 months in most US rental markets.
Often 1-2 months rent. Enter 0 if none.
Landlords in most US states (including all 10 covered states) have a duty to mitigate: they must make reasonable efforts to re-rent, and rent collected from the replacement tenant reduces the breaking tenant’s liability. This is why the “months remaining x rent” worst case rarely applies. A court will typically cap the recovery at what was actually lost.
Mitigation of damages
Most US states (CA, NY, IL, WA, FL, TX, NC, PA, OH, GA all included) require the landlord to make reasonable efforts to find a new tenant once notified of a break. Rent collected from the replacement tenant reduces the breaking tenant’s liability. Early-termination fees in the lease (typically 1-2 months) often substitute for this accounting in practice, but courts will not enforce them if they exceed actual damages.