Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

Termination of Lease, No Termination Clause

I would like to terminate our lease to move into a new house. Prior to house hunting we reviewed our lease to ensure that we would not be paying a hefty panalty to terminate the 9-month lease which ends in May. As we read the lease, we thought that we had to 1) Send the rental office a 30-day notice of intent to terminate the lease and 2) We would forfeit the $200 security deposit. Then, after we sent our notice, we received a follow-up letter from them stating that we had two options: 1) Pay 2-months rent to terminate the lease or 2) Continue to pay rent until they filled the apartment with another tenant. It seems to me that there should have been something in the lease telling us what we would have to pay. We had our closing attorney take a look at the lease and he said that the wording was ambiguous, but advised us to pay the 2-months rent instead of paying attorneys fees for this type of issue. Does the apartment complex have a right to do this? DO we have to sign the second document that they sent us and pay them what they are asking? Do we have any legal standing to make a case that we should not have to pay the 2-months rent? If so, is this something that can be handled in small claims court? Thanks.

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