Can i break my lease if made many attempts to have repairs and it still haven't been done?

I moved in a house July 09. When I moved in the place looked clean. I assumed the carpet was clean because the property manager said it was and it's a very dark brown color, so I signed the year lease and moved in. The day after I moved in my husband and I noticed the smell of a pet living in the home.We didn't have any animals. I also allow my son to run around on the carpet with white socks on and realized how filthy the carpet was. The day before we moved in we had the gas company come out and put gas in our tank. They did but it didn't do any good because the water heater was broke. The property manager said she did not know about the water heater so the first two weeks we lived in the home we had no gas to cook or hot water to shower. We had to wait for a part for the water heater to come in. Also with in the first 2 days we encountered an infestation of camel crickets. Through the 3 months we were there we had to watch everywhere we went in the house because they would come from everywhere. They were in the bathrooms, living room, kitchen, and my kids rooms. We tried to bomb twice but it did know good. Also within 2 weeks of living in the house my family and I were getting bitten by fleas from the carpet that was never cleaned prior to us moving in. My son has also developed a staph infection. I took him to the doctor and they said he may have caught it from someone in his day care. I told him my son was not in daycare he was at home all day with my husband while I worked. He then said my so could have come in contact with something in the home that had the staph bacteria on its surface. Then there's the plumbing. The first sunday after we moved in I did laundry and the water from the washer came up through the kitchen sink and ran over. The property manager sent someone over a week later and fixed it. The second week I was able to do laundry. The third week the kitchen sink ran over again when I did laundry. I waited another week for them to fix it. Then there's the toilets. When flushing, the toilet would stop up then go down very slowly. We realized a couple days later where the waste was going to. It was coming out of a drain on the side of the house. So that side of the house was filled with feces, tissue, and urine from the commode. Last but not least there's the popular mold growing on the ceiling in the bathroom. The house had roof damage prior to me moving in that had been fixed. But there was know ventilation in the batroom, and all the windows in the house were sealed shut. On my move-in inspection sheet I noted the dirty flea infested carpet, which she said had been clean and that there were no pets ever in the home. Well I found pet hair all in the corners of the walls. Anyway, I noted all these things and failed to get a copy of the inspection sheet.I called her thousands of times, wrote her two letters, and talked to her about the problems when I took her the rent. Still nothing. I finally got fed up and put in a 30 day written and verbal notice to terminate my lease. My 30 day notice and the rent for October was given to her by me on September 30 2009. We moved out on October 16,2009. The day before I hand delivered the 30 day notice, I also mailed a copy via certified mail with return receipt. I mailed it to the address I had mailed the other two letters too and also delivered the rent to since it was the address on my lease and also the home address of the property manager. Well guess what, the certified 30-day notice was delivered back to me. The property manager had never signed for it or picked it up from the post office so I have it now in its original enevelope. When I hand delivered it she ask me was I going to have the carpret clean and I asked her for a copy of my move-in inspection sheet because it showed where I had noted the condition of the carpet. Well to my surprise she had misplaced the paper. Now my family and I are out the house and living much better. We did a final walk through of the home and was cleared because the home was the exact same as when we moved in. She gave us one key when we moved in so I had a key made for my 14 year old daughter. After the walk through I tried to return the key to her but she wouldn't take it. She said she wanted both my key and my daughter's key at the same time and had me sign a note stating I would return both keys. This was October 20, 2009. It is now Octerber 23,2009 and I have called her a thousand times to return her keys, but she won't answer or return my calls after leaving millions of messages. Now I believe she wants to sue me for the remaining of the lease. I have pictures, letters, and my phone bill showing how often I made attempts to have repairs done. Do I stand a chance if she decides to take me to court.

1 month ago - 4 answers