Can I break my lease if the landlord won't fix the problem?

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fayyarbrough

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I am having a big issue with my landlord right now. I recently renewed my lease in March. This year I added my daughter and her family to the lease, which at the time was fine with my landlord and it is stated in the lease document. We have a total of 5 living here.
First of all, I have already told the landlord of many things that have gone wrong and he has not fixed them yet. i.e. the wall by the fireplace is cracking b/c of a water leak, we discovered termites around the house and garage, when the bathroom upstairs is used, a sewage smell comes through the house-so we don't even use that bathroom, and now something is very wrong...
My average electic bill is 260. In May it was 293, June's jumped to 710(I immediately called him to have something done), and now July's bill is 855.
After telling my landlord of this, he had the A/C tech to come out and fill the freon, which wasn't low. Then I had an auditor from the Electric company come out and he couldn't find anything that would cause it to jump so high. The report he wrote said that the A/C unit outside was in poor condition and inside was fair. He wrote that the fins were mashed and corroded and the coils needed to be cleaned. He also put in a request for a meter test to be done. I called my landlord and gave him the results of the audit and he had an A/C guy come out. The gentleman told us that he didn't see where the coils needed to be cleaned (however, I have lived here for 15 months and they haven't been cleaned), but that the unit was too small for the size of house and very old and was doing all it could do. But, when the landlord called he stated that the gentleman told him it was because we have 5 people living here. Okay! Don't see that being the problem, it never has been before.
The gentleman came to test the meter and said it was running up to standards. He had my daughter go through the breakers to try and pinpoint which one was pulling the most electricity. And....they pinpointed the A/C breaker. My daughter told him that the A/C tech had already been out twice and he suggested that an electrician come out and check the breaker. There has to be something going on. Now, I have written statements of the auditor, the meter test, and the electric company wrote up a statement that an electrician should be sent out.
My landlord seems to be tired of dealing with this, and has stated that he is not going to get an electrician that it is b/c it is hotter and there are 5 of us. Well, granted, I know that it would go up b/c of the heat and I would expect to pay between 350 and 400, but not a 400, and now 550 increase. He is now telling me I have to keep my lease, but I feel that if he doesn't take care of this situation, I am going to move.
Can I break my lease?
When you pay 1000 a month for rent, you expect things to be taken care of. He does live 5 hours away and has never even been here until the other day to pick up the paperwork I have recieved so far. I do have my own copies. All he was worried about when he was here, was that the gutters needed to be cleaned out. He was not concerned of the fact I am having to deal with this high bill with no explanation as to why it is so high, or that I pay the rent and it has never been late, and we have a leak, and a bathroom that is unusable.
What should I do? I don't have the extra money, but would it be beneficial for me to hire my own electrician to come out. I said I would do that and he said no, he would hire someone himself, but has now decided he is not going to do anything else and has threatened me that if I move, I will not get my 850 deposit back and will have to pay the rest of the lease.
Well, I just don't think that sounds right considering he is not doing his job as a landlord.
Please Help
 
The issue is not that your landlord has ignored the air conditioning business. From your own email he has sent (and paid for) the air conditioning technician to come out several times. Quite frankly, it sounds as if the problem likely is a combination of an air conditioning unit that is too small for the rental house coupled with an increased number of people now living there.

If your reasoning for breaking the lease is that the landlord never addresses your repair issues, your own posting would show that this is not the case.

If you do decide to break this lease, make sure you have all the documentation (in writing) regarding your repair issues, just in case your landlord decides to sue you for the remaining months on the lease.

Gail
 
Yes, but the fact is they were here when the bill was only $260 and $293. And I don't believe for one minute that would change much if any. Of the five people, 2 are children 5 and under, one is hardly ever home b/c of work and college, and the others are myself who is on vacation right now, and my daughter. I have been here and now first hand that during the day all we have on are the A/C, ceiling fans, and sometimes the TV. What has changed? The temp has gone up, but even the auditor said that wouldn't make it increase $400. I have a paper from the Electric company stating that there needs to be an electrician come out and look at it. When the gentleman came to do the meter test, he pinpointed the A/C or breaker, by flipping the switches. There can be only one person here, with nothing on but the A/C unit and ceiling fans and the meter is running crazy. If you flip the breaker to the A/C off, it goes back to normal. The gentleman said it should be going that fast.
 
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