Lease Termination Law Long Island New York

[Esther]

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: NY, Long Island

Here is my story. I signed a lease last June for one year with automatic renewal 2nd year with option to terminate after one year. On the lease, If I wanted to terminate the lease after one year , I had to write a letter 60 days before first year was up. Recent; I;ve lost my joband my huband I decided to leave the apartment. Only problems is that we sent the landlord the termination letter about 3 weeks late. Now, the lanlord ( mangement company of the property) is asking for forfeit on security deposit and extra 2 months rent ( Comes out to more than $5000). The other options were to either sublet or just wait until apt gets rented and until then, we are responsible for the rent. I've call the management company and tried to negotiate and they basically refused. They will take nothing less than 3 months worth of rent if we were to leave. Is this even legal??
And advise on what to do? I may be stuck here for a full year and one month.
Thanks.

[lill]

As a Long Island landlord, you are responsible for any fees you agreed to in the lease. If the lease is silent on termination fees, you are only responsible for rent until the apartment/house has been re-rented.

The landlord must try to mitigate his damages by re-renting ASAP.