My fiance and I currently live in Fairfax County, Virginia in a rented apartment. Our lease ends on May 17. We will be moving to Portland, Oregon in mid-April. Because we're moving before the end of the lease, we fully expect to continue paying rent on the apartment in VA until the lease expires.

My fiance called the leasing office this morning to inform them that we will not be renewing the lease. The office manager said that their leases are "auto-renewing" and they require at least 60 days notice to cancel this auto-renewing feature. Since it is currently 43 days before the end of the lease, she said they will continue to charge us rent into June until the 60 day notice period has expired. We will not have use of the apartment for this period of time.

The whole thing seems shady. If we were breaking the lease early, I could see why they would charge us extra rent. But can they legally charge us rent past the end of the lease because it "auto-renews"?
Additional Details
I'm an idiot. Buried on page 13 of the lease, there is a termination/auto-renewal clause. We have to pay for the entire month after the lease expires, and rent will be increased to "current market value" + $200. According to the landlord, rent will be increased by $500 total. Subsequent tenancy by someone else does not relieve us of the obligation. The landlord will be preparing the apartment for new tenants during the last week of April. All told, we will pay several thousand dollars in rent on an apartment that will be inhabited by a stranger. This is in addition to the costs of moving coast-to-coast (another several thousand dollars), plus the ongoing healthcare and living costs of an uninsured, terminally ill family member (way more than several thousand dollars). We are thoroughly f**ked. At this rate, I'll soon be posting questions about the process of declaring personal bankruptcy. *sigh* Always read the fine print. Thanks for the answers, anyway.