Help! Off-campus housing problems

<p>I know this is not the place to seek legal advice, but I figured I'd start by seeing what CC thinks of my situation.</p>

<p>I'm a 3rd year student living in an off-campus residence at my university. It is an urban rowhouse with 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, and I share the house with 3 other students. I have a 1-year lease with my landlord, from June 2008 - May 2009.</p>

<p>I have had a number of serious, ongoing problems with my residence, and would like to know if it would be possible from a legal standpoint to get out of my lease before the start of my spring semester at the end of January.</p>

<p>1) Crime - Crime has been a huge problem in the off-campus area around my university this year. Especially on the street I am on (patrolled by both city and campus police), break-ins have been rampant. I would estimate that, on an average week, 2-3 rowhouses along my street are broken into. There are also other forms of theft and vandal, including theft from cars and spray painting of cars parked behind rowhouses.</p>

<p>When we expressed concern to our landlord, he responded by having bars installed on most of the windows. Two, he claimed, were too small to be broken into. A week later, our house was broken into and robbed (with a student in the house at the time) through one of these windows.</p>

<p>Neighbors have recently had more break-ins on either side of our house, including one through a barred third-story window.</p>

<p>One of my housemates has also had his car broken into behind our rowhouse (no report filed with police for this).</p>

<p>2) Rodents - this has been an ongoing issue that culminated today and led me to consider ways to get out of the lease. Our house was unoccupied for 2 weeks while my housemates and I were home for the holidays. I was the first back to the house today, and observed a massive mouse infestation of my bedroom on the 2nd floor of the house. Mice have built a massive nest beneath my furniture, pooped and peed all over the room and furniture, and burrowed into my clothing in my dresser.</p>

<p>I have left the house as this is clearly a health hazard. There are so many mice in the room that I have no idea what to do. If there were one or two, I would set a trap and deal with it -- but I saw at least 5 mice in the ten minutes I was in there. </p>

<p>I plan to call the landlord to send an exterminator tomorrow morning, but I would like to know if anyone knows what my rights are as a renter given the above circumstances.</p>

<p>What is the legal process for breaching a lease given these circumstances? My safety and health are at risk in the residence. I can put up with the occasional rodent, and with being cautious with locking doors and windows, etc, but this is absolutely ridiculous.</p>

<p>Before I contact the landlord and potentially an attorney, I'd like to know what you think.</p>

<p>I think there are lots of laws to protect tenants, especially in health related matters (at least in California).
You should talk to an attorney.</p>

<p>The crime is not enough to get out of a contract. However, the infestation might be. I know in many states they have scum-bag landlord laws where the landlords can even be prosecuted for the rodent infestation. However, the first thing you have to do is tell the landlord. </p>

<p>Try to post in the parent’s forum if you haven’t already. There are a number of lawyers that hang out in there and they could probably help you. </p>

<p>Best of luck, and I hope everything works out.</p>