Can I get out of this lease?

Question

My boyfriend and I signed a 1 year lease on the house we are currently living in. We moved in February 2008 (so that mean's we have been here for 6 months). Starting in late June we began having problems with our a/c. Our landlord sent an a/c repairman immediately. Two weeks later the a/c broke AGAIN. The landlord sent a repairman immediately. Yesterday morning it was raining and water was leaking out of the kitchen ceiling. I put two pots down to catch the water and went to work. I came home on my lunch break and the leak had stopped. I left the pots there, just in case. I got home around 7 o'clock last night and immediately hit the couch. My boyfriend came home a few minutes after me. He went to turn the a/c on and it wouldn't kick on. He then went to the kitchen and yelled "What the h**l?" The ceiling tiles where the leak was had fallen and there was a big pile of wood and tiles on the floor. I called the landlord and he didn't answer. It is 10 in the morning, the next day and he has not called. We are getting fed up with all of this stuff. We pay $800 a month and expect to NOT have the ceiling fall. Can we get out of this lease?

Sorry for the length.

We live in Louisiana....so, no a/c is NOT an option.

Answer 1

Wake up dear.  AC is an amenity in MOST areas, unless your lease specifically includes working AC as one of the included items in the lease.  No, you do not have an excuse to invalidate this lease. First you need to work with management to eliminate the problem issues.  No, they are not required to contact you within a few hours.  Normal business hours are acceptable.

Grow up and learn to understand that living premises are simply NOT perfect, and do wear out.  As long as management responds to your issues within a reasonable time, you have no complaint.

Answer 2

Can you get out of the lease?  At this point, probably not unless the landlord voluntarily lets you out.

To have legal grounds to terminate a lease early there must be habitability issues, the landlord must be aware of those issues and unwilling to fix them.  Based on his previous quick response to your a/c issues, the first thing that comes to my mind is the landlord is out of town right now so he is unable to respond.

If he doesn't get the ceiling/roof fixed in a reasonable period of time THEN you may have cause but there are specific steps you are required to follow to have a legally defensible cause to terminate your lease early.

Answer 3

you can try and ask him because if you can get out of the lease because you didnt sign it to live in a dump u expect the money ur paying to live in a good place. if he says no then you can take him to court and find out what u can do there if you dont wanna take it to court contact a legal aid attorney good luck i know how that is  

Answer 4

If your landlord doesn't fix the problem with the leak in a timely fashion, then yes.  But if the landlord makes good effort to repair the problems and has proof of that, then it is going to be hard to get out of the lease.