Can Texas landlord refuse to prorate 1st mo. rent?

My daughter signed a lease agreement with a lease term of August 13, 2008 to July 31, 2009. The monthly rent is specified as $423. Despite the fact that the lease term is less than 12 full months, the lease specifies a total lease obligation of $5,076 ($423 x 12mos.), including a full month's rent of $423 for August 2008. I questioned the property manager about this and was basically told that they need two weeks to prepare the unit for each new tenant and it is their policy to charge 12 equal installments with no proration.

Are there any laws requiring landlords to prorate rent in this case? At the very least, it seems to me that the terms of the lease agreement are contradictory.

[OHlandlord]

There are no laws to require prorating rents. If your daughter signed this lease, then she agreed to that amount of rent for each month, including the partial month. The time to negotiate this would have been before she signed the lease. But $423 a month seems an odd figure to me. Why wouldn't they charge $425 or $420? Unless this is under housing assistance, few LLs charge such an odd amount. If this falls under housing assistance, the case worker can tell you if this is allowed under their system.

Perhaps the $5076 is actually the total amount for the year. If the rent was actually $435 a month ( a more natural figure for rent), 11 and 2/3 of a month would be $5076 for the year. So maybe they calculated that 1/3 of a month credit in there already, then just divided into 12 easy payments? Either way, your daughter already signed the lease to pay that amount and didn't negotiate a prorated rent for that month, so the point is moot. She is already contractually obligated to pay $5076.