Does North Carolina allow forgiveness of rent from a broken lease?

I have a friend who moved from one apartment to another, breaking the lease in the first apartment. The landlord in the second apartment told him that you are allowed to walk away from one lease without penalty or court action, and he was able to break the lease and move into the other apartment without paying out the lease or paying the penalty laid out in the lease. Is this true, or was this something the second landlord worked out with the first?