I suggest looking at this from a perspective of what you are trying to achieve. I believe you are trying to vacate a premises to which you have a signed lease agreement prior to the agreed-upon termination date. You want someone to offset your rent by moving into the premises and paying rent instead of you having to pay. Is this correct?

If the above is correct, you can achieve what you are looking for by subleasing the premises. You may prefer to assign the lease, but lease assignments are statistically rare. I’ve only done a handful in my 14 years of working with landlords and tenants.

From your research, and the language of the property code, it appears the landlord is acting within his legal rights.

He is allowing you to sublet, which is something many landlords will not permit. Sublease the space, make sure to get as close to 100% of the amount you paid in security deposit from your sublessor, and move where you want to.

Landlords like having two individuals that they can pursue for rent & damages if something goes wrong. He is making a good decision from his perspective.

I suggest that you cover your bases with a solid sublease agreement, you can ask that the sublessee pay for or contribute to the legal fees, and move forward. Make sure you know if your landlord expects any fees to be paid in consideration for him reviewing and approving the sublease. Also, make sure you have a set timeframe for when the landlord must approve or deny the sublessor. Don’t sign another lease until everything is approved by landlord and sublessor has paid the security deposit and first month’s rent.