Breaking a lease from a tenant's perspective

[Andrew Miller]

I have a question from the perspective of a tenant and want the opinion of landlords out there and their advise. I was renting a single family home and had a 12 month lease. I was 8 months into the lease and a better job opportunity came up in my home town a few states over. I informed the landlord as soon as the process began moving forward so he could list the property and get a tenant in there with the least amount of vacancy as possible. I paid month 9 in full and told the landlord I was forfeiting my security deposit (a full months rent) as payment for month 10. He stated that I am liable for the lease until a new tenant is placed and that rent is to be due as before. Is this standard? Am I legally bond by the lease for the full 12 months or by breaking the lease do I simply forfeit the security deposit? In addition, after leaving, the property manager contacted him saying I did not leave it rent ready and the landlord asked if I had planned on having professional cleaning services come to clean the house. Some "issues" stated where the oven, fridge, and counters were not wiped down and the floors were not moped. Am I truly responsible for this or is this part of the turnover process? Thank you for the advice in advance.