Relocated -- must break lease

[MonkeeLove]

I'm being relocated to California for my company on May 1st, but my lease isn't up till August 31.

When I originally informed my landlord a couple of months ago of the possibility that I would be relocated, he said that with a letter from my employer verifying it, they wouldn't charge me for breaking the lease. Now he's reneged on that, saying that they will keep my security deposit (one month's rent) but probably not charge me for the remainder of the lease.

What I'd like to do is put the security deposit towards my last months rent (essentially by not paying it). I figure if they're going to sue me for breach of contract, that won't change the amount of money they're suing me for. But I'm wondering if there is some sort of a landlord's association that he could complain to that would make it more difficult to get an apartment in the future. (I have no need of using him as a reference.) Does anyone know if such a thing exists?

Thanks
-Joel

[ChrisG]

is there any chance your company could pay out your lease as part of the relocation expenses? it's sort of not your fault you have to move out and if the LL is being difficult one would hope the company would step in and fix things.

barring that, tho LLs probably do engage in some blacklisting, the likelihood of an intercontinental denial list is pretty low.