I think you'll find that a simple query with the office will help things out. That clause in the contract is in case you are deadbeats they can sue you.
Here's the skinny on what I know (not a lawyer, just from my experience as a serial renter). Let's say you want to move out before your contract is up and you volunteer a big wad of cash to settle the terms of the lease. You have now satisfied your end of the contract and the rental is YOURS until the lease term ends. That means they can't legally rent the place for several months. They don't make any more money than if they just let you out of the lease and put new tenants in there. (other than the 2 months in your contract)
The length of the lease term is a nice guarantee, but if you want out of it, most of the time they don't care.... especially if you have a sob story - "wife and I are getting transferred or we get booted" kinda thing. They will have to transition your apartment at some point, the lease terms just tend to insure that they don't have to do it every few months.
Your first step is to call them and state your case. The worst they can do is say, "sorry, pay up." At that point you know they are only interested in that bonus two-months rent, or they are so lazy (or busy) that they can't possibly take on the extra load of prepping one more apartment for re-lease.
The very large management company that I lived under was more than happy to release me from my contract when we decided to move. I was up-front about my reasons, offered to help them search for new tenants, be a reference for them if new tenants wanted to call me... it was a wonderful experience the few times I did it.
On their end, the only real inconvenience is that they have to prep and clean the apartment now instead of a few months from now. There is a fear of not being able to fill the apartment once you leave, but the economy isn't really making it easy for people to get home loans, so they have plenty of applicants.
Do yourself a favor and do these two things:
1) offer to make the apartment interior ready for move-in of new tenants. Scrub, clean, sanitize, everything.
2) Inform them that you will be sending them a letter outlining the condition of things that you observe. Include a highly detailed list of what was cleaned, paint chips in the siding, a crack in the basement wall, a curled shingle on the roof, everything. I list mine all in an outline format and I even describe things that need no attention.
One of their weaknesses is that they only have time for a 1/2 hour inspection and they can't actively plan ahead on what needs to be done. If you give them a heads up on most of that stuff they usually LOVE you. They are walking blindly into an apartment that they may have not seen for 4 years and trying to diagnose and repair everything in the shortest amount of time possible so they can get it rented again. Giving them a heads up (and tossing them a bone or two by going above the call of duty) is always a bonus. I basically played the part of amateur contractor and told them all the things that they might otherwise miss. They LOVED me because its better to get a jumpstart on that now instead of listening to a bitchy tenant complain about it later.
Example. When I ditched my last apartment I cleaned. When I say cleaned, I mean cleaned. I pulled the stove and fridge out from the wall and scrubbed the floors, the sides of the appliances, the walls, everything. I took pictures for my reference. I described (in the letter) what products I used to clean; clorox clean-up in the bathrooms, simple green to clean the dirty fingerprints from the doors, bleach/water solution to sanitize the grout in the tile floors...
The bottom line is... who cares if you actually did it? As long as it looks clean and smells clean, they think you are an anal-retentive god and tend to assume that you are worthy of sainthood.
I sent my exit letter two days before the move-out inspection, and the property manager showed up and handed me a letter of recommendation before even looking at the apartment. He knew we were buying a house and he figured we already had a loan, but he wanted to make sure that I could show proof to a bank that I was flawless in paying my rent on time in case it helped us get a loan, or maybe give us some bargaining room on interest.
.... and then I left a big poop in the toilet before I left. Not really, but that would have been funny, right?
