Repairs, Maintenance House sinking, can I break lease?

[achilles600]

I live in Texas and rent a house with two roommates. One of the roommates lives in a sizable room that was built as an addition on the house. The problem is the foundation was not laid well and the room is sinking and warping. The room is tilting in one direction and there is a very noticeable wave in the parquet floor (the floor has peaks and valleys that are 1 foot apart which makes it look like a wave). It's bad enough that the bed can slip in one direction or another as the legs are sitting on the sides of the waves.
The lease ends next August but this issue is getting worse extremely fast.
The question is, does the landlord have a legal responsibility to fix this and do we have a right to break the lease. When we leased the house originally this problem was not apparent so "the situation has changed"

 

[army judge]

You can always break a lease. In this case you may have a legal way to break the lease.

Have you discussed this with the owner? If not, find out his/her position. You might not need to do anything, if the issue is resolved to everyone's satisfaction. Otherwise, after a conversation with the LL, speak with a local attorney.


If the home is uninhabitable, breaking the lease could be possible.

I live in Texas and rent a house with two roommates. One of the roommates lives in a sizable room that was built as an addition on the house. The problem is the foundation was not laid well and the room is sinking and warping. The room is tilting in one direction and there is a very noticeable wave in the parquet floor (the floor has peaks and valleys that are 1 foot apart which makes it look like a wave). It's bad enough that the bed can slip in one direction or another as the legs are sitting on the sides of the waves.
The lease ends next August but this issue is getting worse extremely fast.
The question is, does the landlord have a legal responsibility to fix this and do we have a right to break the lease. When we leased the house originally this problem was not apparent so "the situation has changed"

 

[fredrikklaw]

You are free to move out!

Yes, you can; very much so! But you will not be "breaking any lease" here and I would avoid using such a negative terminology if at all possible.

And yes again; the landlord is legally mandated to keep the rental unit in a state of good repair. Because although not written or expressed, there are however read into every lease coming from the landlord, be it commercial or residential, an Implied Warranty of Habitability and a Covenant of Quiet Enjoyment, and the breach of either one or both by the landlord causes what is known in landlord-tenant law as a Constructive Eviction, which is the situation you find yourself in at the present time.

When a landlord causes a Constructive Eviction, the tenant has the right to suspend payment of rent and begin the process of moving out the rental unit and will not be found liable if any action is later brought by the landlord to recover unpaid rent and/or the value of the entire lease period. But keep this in mind that although you will not be liable to the landlord for unpaid rent while you look to find alternative accommodation and finally move out, the move-out will have to be done as fast as possible and within a reasonable amount of time. And a reasonable amount of time in such a scenario would be anywhere from 30 to 90 days, tops.

fredrikklaw