After several years in the same apartment, I moved from NYC to another state in the middle of one of my annual leases. Couldn't help it, got a new job and it didn't line up with the end of the lease. I told the landlord of our move a month ahead of time, since we were moving in the middle of the month. He started showing the apartment, but made it clear he wasn't allowing us to break the lease, that we would be responsible for rent until he re-rented the apartment. I kind of expected that from him since, even though that's his right, most landlords would have been happy to raise the rent and re-rent it. Ever other tenant that moved out of his building, left hating him and in the middle of the night without telling him.
Two things. He never wanted any of our help looking for new tenants, he is very selective of the realtors he uses, so I could not help him get someone else to take our lease. Also, once we moved out he renovated the apartment, which means no one could move in before the next first of the month. So now he wants another month's rent even though he just put the place on the market after cosmetic renovations (for the record, it was in better condition when we left it than when we moved in). AND since we paid rent for a month where the apartment was uninhabitable due to the construction, should we still be on the hook for additional rent? Doesn't that imply that he has re-possessed the apartment from us? He is also threatening to charge us with normal wear and tear charges that are irrelevant to our time as tenants.
Now I just learned that he has indeed rented the apartment, though I don't know if the next lease begins this month or the next month [EDIT: a realtor told me next tenant is an 11/15 move in, which is the same month we are being asked to pay rent in full]. I suspect he was always looking for someone for the following month, and he assumed we would pay for this month regardless.
Thanks in advance.