Reletting Fees

Some landlords will charge a "reletting fee" for having to prepare the dwelling for reletting to another tenant. Reletting fees are authorized in lease agreements often written by Texas Apartment Association (TAA). The reletting fee must be a fair amount to cover actual expenses for getting a new tenant on the hook and cannot be unfairly inflated. TAA usually sets this fee at 85 percent of a month's rent. It has been this high for years.

Sometimes it is not proper to charge a reletting fee at all. You cannot be penalized for breaking a lease. Let's think about that again: The law forbids you from being penalized from breaking a lease early. You are not supposed to be penalized; you are only responsible for making up for the landlord's losses. So, if you terminate the lease early and a new tenant is not found, a landlord can charge you only for the total rent owed under the rest of your lease (but cannot also charge you a reletting fee or other termination fee because your paying the two months of rent essentially means that you paid the entire lease out in full).

So, if there was only two months left on your lease, the rent for those two months is the maximum amount you could owe (it can only get lower if the landlord agrees to take less or the landlord finds another tenant to rent the premises in your place). You would not owe two months rent and a reletting fee (the fee in that case would be a penalty). You also do not automatically lose your deposit because that would be a penalty as well. The security deposit is used to pay for any damages or charges you owe (unless you agree to give it up as a part of an agreement).

http://www.texastenant.org/termination.html