I'm printing out my new lease in prep to sign. I'm worried about the lease cancellation fees. I just now realized they have changed the terms since the last lease. Is this even enforceable (mainly the bold print)? The old lease only stated there was a one month fee for leaving prior to the end of the lease. Now I'm not so sure I want to sign it in case we want to vacate before the end of 12 months. The place "should" be easy to re-rent but the management company sucks and would likely drag their feet for months to get a new tenant in (probably longer because we'd be obligated to pay the rent still). Of course I waited until the last possible day....
Lessee must stay entire length of Lease or all deposits are forfeited. If Lessee vacates Premises prior to the end of this
Lease, Lessee will be responsible for rents, lock change and other fees per this agreement through the end of the Term, or
until the Premises is re-rented to a qualified lessee, whichever comes first. In addition, Lessee will be charged a re-lease fee
in the amount of 100% of one month's rent or $795 (whichever is greater) if Lessee does not fulfill the terms of their lease.
Most likely not enforceable in any UORRA state. You're in Colorado, right?
I have a landlord-tenant blog, and one of the things I've been working through is the law in each state. I'll do Colorado next just for you, because I fear you may be about to really step in it. One of the things you can't do in Colorado is anything that constitutes having the tenant waive the right to have the damage deposit returned. A landlord can put the deposit toward unpaid rent (if there is any) but arbitrarily taking the whole deposit is no-go especially on top of all the rents the way it's been worded. That's not a legally enforceable document and whoever wrote it would get shredded in court, HOWEVER first you'd have to get to court which is a giant pain in the tush. CO is landlord-friendly but not that landlord-friendly.
Don't sign that clause. Take a red pen to it and fix the contract first so that it's fair. You can spell out an early lease cancellation fee IN LIEU of remaining rent, but it's not going to be in addition to it. I always structure my leases with a buy-out option from the tenant's side. It makes everything cleaner. The absolute last thing you want in any structure you own is a tenant who doesn't want to be there.
Failing that you can find a better landlord.