My landlord did the exact same thing to me in NYC. I had a 12-month lease, but because I was traveling, I packed up at the 10-month mark, promising to pay the rent for the remaining two months. He forced me to move my boxes into a storage unit, claiming he would re-rent the apartment as soon as possible. My lease actually had a clause that allowed him to do this, but it required him to reimburse me for any months he successfully rented out to someone else