Apartment lease question?

Question

Ok so my husband is military and we have a 9 month old little girl..we moved into an apt in October and signed a 1 year lease! Shortly after we moved in the was a shooting in our backyard, the SWAT team showed up and I got mugged outside with my little girl. Our apt was infested with roaches and they were getting in our fridge and my daughters crib. After alot of attempts to get ride of them they moved us to a smaller apt but we never signed a lease for this apt that were in now. We now have huge roaches and were moving out! Is there any way to get out of the lease without paying my husbands first sargent is the one who told us we need to move out but the office is saying were still gonna have to pay...someone help we dont have this kind of money but i cant keep my little girl here its unsafe

Answer 1

Roaches make the place uninhabitable. This is a basis for breaking your lease without losing money.

State and local law govern your situation. Google your state + "tenant rights". Here's how we do it in California:

http://www.caltenantlaw.com/breaklease.h...

Answer 2

If you don't mind messing with your credit and possibly going to court you could leave without notice but I wouldn't recommend it. Most rental places you will find that they will allow you to break the lease if you give them notice 30 days in advance. I have had that same thing happen to me (huge roaches, filthy). If I were you I would put in for the 30 day notice to let them know that you are moving out. Make sure you mail the notice in registered mail with a delivery signature to both the landlord/manager and property owner so they can't deny they received it. Also when you write the 30 day notice make sure to mention that you were mugged (attach a copy of your police report proving this), the filthy environment for your family was living in and take pictures (lots of pictures), showing all the detail of what you are talking about, (this will help support your case if you should go to court). If this place is as bad as you are saying they are too broke to take you to court but you never know. Document everything, every phone call, every conversation, your cell phone bills listing their number showing that you called them. Keep everything(such as documents, notes, police reports, receipts of payment, copy of the lease) associated with this apartment. All documents could either help or hinder  your case depending on the judge. Hope this helps.