The first thing you should do is try and work out an agreement with your landlord. This really means one of 2 options :They let you out of the lease. Ideally for no charge, but possibly maybe for another month of rent. If you're a good tenant (pays bills on time, doesn't throw parties that the cops show up) and on friendly terms with your landlord this may be possible!Reassign the lease. This means you find someone else to take over your lease. Depending on the remaining duration of the lease, your landlord may be motivated to settle with you and work out an arrangement. Your landlord can very easily sue you in court to try and recoup the fees. Breaking a Lease Is Hard to DoHowever this is not in your landlord's best interests for several reason.While the lawsuit is in progress, they are unable to rent out your apartment. True you owe them the money for every month remaining on the contract. However if you show up in court and it's proven that they went ahead and rented out your apartment while your lease was still active, then the Judge will just go ahead and dismiss the suit. The lease specifies that you have to pay the rent for the entire duration, but unfortunately the landlord must also allow you to live in it. Renting out your apartment after you have technically violated your lease but are still entitled to it as per your lease would pretty much mean they have also violated the lease. A lease goes both ways! So if you had 9 months left on the lease and you stall like all hell before showing up to court, they may very well have a situation where the apartment isn't collecting rent for a couple of months. This is obviously less than ideal for any landlord. While a judge is likely to rule in their favor unless you can show some extenuating circumstances (i.e. the apartment never has heat, or the ceiling leaked and they never bothered to fix it etc.) as to why you had to leave, just because the ruling is in their favor it doesn't mean they will ever receive a dime from the defendant/former tenant. If judge rulings could force people to pony up then deadbeat dads who don't pay child support wouldn't be such a huge issue in the United States. Any landlord who has dealt with this situation more than once probably understands that the chances of them seeing the rest of that rent is slim. It takes time and effort and most likely money to sue someone.