One thing about real estate transactions, and a lease is a real estate transaction, is they must all be in writing, and written agreements supercede oral ones, always. If they said in July and Aug they have no plans to move, it means nothing.
It is also possible that they may be looking for something larger or cheaper or both, and are under NO OBLIGATION to tell you that, and may not know themselves if they are going for it.
I was a tenant for about two years after I married, and a landlord now for over 30 years. I usually like to play it straight, and a month before my lease was up, I notifed the landlord I was moving at the end of the lease. Turned out to be a big mistake.
There was a clause in the lease that says that once I give my notice, the landlord now has the right to come in with 24 hours notice to show the place, and that's any time of the day or night, even when I'm at work. During one of these showings, all of wife's jewelry, that she accumulated since she was a young girl, were all stolen.
We lost about $5,0000 to $10,000.
My wife is not into jewelry, and it's more of sentimental value. Some of her kin folk gives her a presents of jewelry on her important birthdays, such as the 10th, 13th, 16th, High School graduation etc., and at the time, her grandma, who gave her the most memorable pieces, was long dead.
Through the years, some tenants give me little or no notice before moving, and often none of their fault, as often they don't know that themselves. One guy was all excited about a terrific job offer that he wasn't expecting to get. So what am I supposed to say "sorry, but you didn't give me enough notice"?? There's a human side to landlording too!!
Having gone through what I gone through, I understand.
On the other hand, I am not that forgiving on damages. Often though, I have contractors at the ready, and it's done within a week, and I rent it out again with a 10 day gap at most. I'm slow, so even if I did it myself, I wind up losing money.
The only exception is sometimes everyone I called is busy for the next month, and I roll up my sleeves and get to it right away. I often don't have badly damaged units, so I show it in the middle of painting with drop clothes covering everything. New tenants are usually happy to see the place being fixed, because most landlords around here don't bother.
In fact, some tenants leave the units with a very bad odor, and I find people coming to look while I'm paintinng can't smell the bad odor.
So far, in 30 years, I charged a tenant's parents, who guaranteed the lease about $300 to replace about 6 doors that she ruined. Other than that, a painter may charge me another $100 on top of his regular rates if he has to do extra spackling. I absorb the costs as part of doing business.
One thing is to not get a tenant real upset. My dad made that mistake, and a mad tenant poured cement down his sewer pipes which had to be all replaced after ripping some walls. costing thousands of dollars. If he just kept his month shut about some minor damage the tenant did, he would've been way ahead of the game.

