Month to month negotiation

I've been in an apartment for around 4 years. The time has come to renew our lease, however, they have of course gone up on rent. We'd like to still stay in this apartment but only need the apartment for 3 months after the start of the next lease period, thus we were interested in month-to-month. However, the month to month price is over $1,200 over the standard 12-or 13 month price. Any suggestions?