A: In terms of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) the consumer (tenant) can terminate a lease early before it’s expiry, with certain proviso’s. A tenant has the right to give 20 working days notice (*see exclusion below) but reasonable penalties will apply if the property is not timeously re-let. The landlord is obliged to make every effort to re-let the property and depending on market conditions it should be achievable to rent the property to a new tenant within a couple of months. The CPA talks about a reasonable penalty being applied and Regulation 5 (3) stipulates that a supplier (landlord) cannot “charge a consumer a charge that would have the effect of negating the consumer’s right to cancel a fixed term consumer agreement as afforded to the consumer by the Act”, meaning that the penalty must not be so great as to dissuade the tenant from wanting to cancel. So you, as the tenant, could be liable for a penalty, but not liable to pay for rent for the remainder of the contract, that would be deemed unreasonable. A reasonable penalty is thought to be up to in the region of two months rent. You may also be liable to pay pro rata agent's commission, i.e. a relevant portion of the commission which the landlord had paid the agent for procurement of your tenancy, and any costs of marketing. * Note - definition of consumer in terms of CPA:  A lease does not fall under the ambit of the CPA if the consumer (tenant) is a juristic entity with an annual turnover which exceeds the threshold stipulated by the Minister of Trade and Industry.  All natural people are consumers regardless of their net asset value.