【 Case Garden 】 ● Case: In February 2025, tenant Zhao Dong (pseudonym) rented an apartment from landlord Wang Qiang (pseudonym) and signed a lease agreement, specifying a one-year lease term, monthly rent of 1800 yuan, and a deposit of 1800 yuan. If one party breaches the contract, they shall pay one month's rent as a penalty to the other party. After just staying for a month, Zhao Dong proposed to Wang Qiang due to personal reasons: if he rents for another month, he will have to check out. Wang Qiang agrees. In April, Zhao Dong moved out of the apartment and asked Wang Qiang to refund his deposit, but Wang Qiang refused. So Zhao Dong sued Wang Qiang in court and demanded a refund of the deposit. Wang Qiang believes that the other party's early termination of the lease constitutes a breach of contract, and a penalty of 1800 yuan should be paid according to the contract, which can be directly deducted from the deposit. But Zhao Dong believes that Wang Qiang has already agreed to his termination of the lease and cannot go back on his word. Judgment: The court held that after Zhao Dong and Wang Qiang signed the contract, Wang Qiang delivered the house to Zhao Dong as agreed, and Zhao Dong's early termination of the lease did constitute a breach of contract. Although Wang Qiang agreed to terminate the contract, he did not explicitly waive his right to demand compensation for breach of contract. Therefore, Wang Qiang has the right to demand that Zhao Dong bear the corresponding breach of contract liability and pay a penalty of 1800 yuan. Statement: Whether the deposit can be refunded for tenants who check out midway has always been a concern for people. In general, if the tenant has no breach of contract, the landlord should refund the rental deposit. If the tenant terminates the lease early, it may result in a breach of contract. Article 577 of the Civil Code stipulates that if one party fails to perform its contractual obligations or does not perform its contractual obligations in accordance with the agreement, it shall bear the liability for breach of contract, such as continuing to perform, taking remedial measures, or compensating for losses. During the performance of the housing lease contract, if the tenant terminates the lease early due to their own reasons, it constitutes a breach of contract and causes the landlord to incur losses such as increased rental costs and vacant housing. Therefore, they should bear corresponding responsibilities. In addition, the issue of whether the deposit can be refunded after the landlord agrees to the tenant's early termination of the lease depends on whether the landlord has explicitly waived the right to hold the tenant liable for breach of contract while agreeing to terminate the contract. Agreeing to terminate the lease and waiving the claim are two things that need to be clearly separated. In this case, when both parties agreed to terminate the agreement, the landlord did not explicitly waive the right to claim compensation, and the tenant still needs to bear the breach of contract liability according to the provisions of the lease contract. Even if there is no specific breach clause stipulated in the lease agreement, the landlord can demand that the tenant bear the liability for breach of contract and compensate for reasonable losses such as vacancy fees caused by early termination of the lease. (New Society)