Question about moving out of apartment

My wife and I were in a lease and ended up buying a house. We were told we needed to pay 2 months rent because they needed a 60 day notice(which was in our lease) and we needed to pay the reletting fee as well. They let us pay it out over 3 months and we did so faithfully. When we gave them notice we had already cleaned the apartment and moved out completly so we turned in all of our keys. We were told that when we paid the last payement we would get a letter stating that we owed them nothing else. So 60 days later we pay our last payement and were told that they had to do a final walkthrough still. I asked them why have they not done so since we had moved and relinquished our keys. They told us that they had no legal right to enter the property as we were still the tennants (even though we had no way to enter it as we gave up the tennant rights of said property when we turned in our keys). I then asked why then were they showing the apartment (was told this by two employees at the complex). Also they tried to charge us for water usage even though we turned off our water account and paid our final water bill according to the company that handles their water. So I asked then who has been in the apartment using water and why were they in there if they had no legal right to do so as they themselves told me? I then asked the question that who would be resonsible for any damages if someone broke in and did damage to the property since I could not get in to the property and gave up my keys to the property over 60 days ago? They told us they did not know.

My questions are as follows

1. does turning in your keys in the above instance relinquish your rights as a tennant?
2. If it does I feel they should have done their walkthrough quickly after we moved.
3. If it does not and they are not allowed in there legally then why were they in there?

I just want my letter as promised and all I am getting is very bad service from them.
Any thoughts in case they come back and suddenly say there is all kinds of damage even though I know it was left in better shape than when I moved in it.

I doubt we can answer these questions as is. It depends on a number of factors including what state you live in, what your lease said about the 2 month's of rent (was it for failure to give proper notice, an early lease termination fee, was it payment until the end of your lease, etc.), if you were breaking your lease, and possibly other factors.

It sounds as if you were still under a lease when you moved out. Is this true? Was there a mention of an early termination fee in your lease?

Did you fail to give proper notice and then had to pay for the notice period after you moved? Didn't you give ANY notice? (You said you had already moved out and cleaned by the time you gave notice?!)

If there was no mention of a termination fee and you paid the 60 days for the notice period, it may have still been considered your unit for those 60 days. They could not have rented it them because you had already paid for that period. (Or they would have had to refund your money.)

Additionally, some states say a LL has no duty to try and re-rent it. So it may have just sat empty until the end of your notice period. A LL can enter the unit with advance notice. Many states consider posting a notice to the door proper notice. Since you weren't living there, you would never have seen the notices that they were coming into the unit. It is legal for them to enter the unit with this notice.

We really need more info, especially your state, to sort this out.

We did move out but we then gave the two month notice and paid everything as stated by our contract. There by doing the same thing as still living there and giving the notice. We just gave them the keys because since we moved we did not need them there. We paid everything on our end and left the place in very neat order. We finally did get a call from the apartment owner due to when we made our last payement they trtied to tell us we never turn in the keys or the gate remotes. Then they finally opened their folder and saw the note that was signed and dated by their employee stating we turned them in. Really there were about honestly 6 other things they told us and then told us different answers to since we were paying the rent for the notice as if we still were there over the two months. like since you turned in your keys we will do the walk through. then no we did not do the walkthrough as you still legaly own it and we would be breaking the law. But they were in the apartment as they used water then wanted to bill us and admitted to using it as a show model(But could not do a walkthrough, HUH)
I told the gentleman that since they had the keys and they were using it to show prospective tennants then either that means I gave up my rights the day I turned in the keys or as your employee put it you would be breaking the law by going in there. Cannot have it both ways I figured. He then told me that we left it in very good order thanked me for installing a very nice celing fand in the den since they had no light in there (I asked up front if I could and would let them approve it first if they wanted and offered to leave it). and mailed me a letter stating I owe nothing and would get a full refund of my deposit.

So long story short turned out good. But still raises the question, I give a notice, pay out the notice on time but go ahead and turn in keys thereby have no legal way into the apartment unless I go to the office. What would have happened if someone would have broke in and tore the place up?

Thanks for the reply sorry I did not explain more as I was furious at being told so many different stories from the complex over the last 60 days.