Apartment Is Litereally Making Us Sick

First of all, there is a buy-out clause in my lease. If I were to tell my landlord February 1 that I intended to move out early, and paid for two months additional rent, I would have one month to pack and move.

However, I am a college student and it'd be very difficult for me to pay $1,800 to buy out of the lease, especially if I'm not allowed to live in the apartment for the two months I'd have to pay for.

The reason I need to move is simple: The apartment is wretched. There are crumbled, bent drop-ceiling tiles that don't even sit in the frame correctly. The toilet doesn't work correctly, there are ROACHES in the light fixtures (I was informed that I am not allowed to even touch the fixtures. If the bulbs burn out, maintainence will replace them and that he, the landlord, has no responsibility to empty the dead bugs out of the fixtures.)

All of this was fine until the weather started to turn. Quickly we discovered that our bedroom was sealed poorly, insulated poorly, etc. Basically, I heat the apartment to 70F, with the thermostat set to mid-seventies, and the kitchen, living area, and bathroom hover at about 68F. The bedroom FREEZES. I purchased a reliable thermometer to test how accurate the thermostat was and this is what I found: Even with the actual temperature a few degrees lower that what it's set to, which is fine, the bedroom is 50F. No joke. The bedroom is on average 25F lower than the rest of the apartment. There are huge, 8 ft. tall, windows and the ceilings are 12 ft. tall. I understand that it will be a little harder to heat because of this. But I feel that, after sealing all the windows, putting thick plastic over them, and even thick blankets over that, for the bedroom to be too cold to sleep in is absurd.
I have had to move my bed into the living room and basically shut off the bedroom or all the drafts from said room drop the temperature in the rest of the apartment. Numerous requests have been sent to both the landlord (who lives in the building and doesn't give a f*** about the other tenants because I saw him replace all his apartment's windows and he told me I had to pay for my own plastic to seal my own crappily-sealed windows) and maintanence. Nothing has been done. The landlord basically told me to cover the windows myself and "find more money to pay for more heat." I would just pay for more heat- if it would do any good.

I am recovering, as is my roommate, from Bronchitis. This apartment is making us sick and there's nothing more that I can do to help. Management won't do anything. Is there anything I can legally do to force management to replace the windows (although even my neighbors' bedrooms freeze too) or let us out of our lease without paying the $1,800? It just seems like the landlord's responsibility to provide safe, decent housing isn't being met, and won't be.

If it helps, I live in Indianapolis, IN.

I occured to me after I posted to include that the landlord said that when he began to show the apartment- while I lived in it- that the plastic would HAVE to be taken down. Also, he enters the apartment at random times, normally after business hours, for no reason. He doesn't put salt on the sidewalks or front steps so moving would be dangerous. My grandmother came to visit for Christmas and left because she thought she'd slip on the sidewalk and get hurt.

You have several issues here and you will have to do some research to find all the answers. Let's take them one at a time.

Entry: Your state has no statute requiring any advance notice for the LL to enter your unit. Look in local (city) ordinances for a law on advance notice for entry. If you don't find one, he is not in violation of a law. Sorry, but requiring 24 hours advance notice for entry is a myth. That is the law in only 13 states, 7 others require 2 days notice, one requires 12 hours, 6 others require reasonable or adequate notice (who knows how much time that is supposed to be), and the other 23 have no requirement for prior notice of entry. You live in one of those states.

Removal of plastic: The LL can ask you to do so. He can require you to keep the unit is show condition to attempt to rent it. Since a prospect wouldn't want to look or rent a place with dense plastic over the windows, he can require you to keep the unit in condition to entice a new renter. And the LL does, in your state, have a requirement to try and minimize the rental loss (he can't just leave it empty and require you to continue to pay through the end of the lease).

Termination fees: Perfectly legal, I'm afraid. Since you are allowed to terminate a lease, those fees represent what loss he would probably face in rent, advertising, etc. (and what is normally awarded by judges in most states) when a tenant breaks the lease. Most judges in states where a LL must attempt to re-rent are awarded one or two months of lost rental income against the tenant who breaks a lease, so this just eliminates the court hearing and judgement against you. If you allowed it to go to trial, it would appear on your credit report as a bad or outstanding debt, and it would damage your credit score.

Apt. conditions:
Heat: First, check the vents to the bedroom and be sure they are wide open. Close slightly some vents in the warmer rooms and see if it re-directs the heat to the BD. If it does, then the furnace is working as required. If not, check local statutes again about a minimum required heating temperature in the house. Some states have minimum temperatures the unit must meet. If you see one, call the local building inspector or the health department and report the lower temp. in your unit. The LL does not have to install insulation or weatherstripping, but you can place weatherstripping on windows and doors, caulk or put plastic on windows, foam insulators behind switch and outlet plates (do this - it cuts down on drafts!) very cheaply.

Roaches: The LL must exterminate. Write a letter requesting this, send it certified mail, return receipt requested, and keep a copy. If he fails to respond, check local codes again for repair and deduct procedures (there is no state statute). You can also contact the health dept. or the building inspector about this. But do the letter first to have a paper trail. When he fails to fix this, you may be able to use this to terminate without penalty. But you need the paper trail for proof later.

Windows & ceilings: You will not be able to force him to replace windows. You rented the unit with those windows. Requiring an upgrade in any fixture is not enforceable. You cannot make him give you an upgrade. It was your duty to check out the unit and see if it meet your standards and requirements before you signed the lease. Did you view the place before you signed? Then you had an opportunity to check the windows at that time. Didn't you notice the ceilings either? If they are crumbling, you can follow the same procedure as the extermination letter above.

Salting common areas: Some states require this, others do not. I'm not sure about IN. I know that OH and some other nearby states do not require it. IN may. Again, check with a local LL to see. Or call legal aide or HUD and ask. If it is required, you may have to give him 24 hours after a snowfall to do this task.

I wish I could have been of more help. But unfortuantely, you have few states statutes that help.

Thank you for your very helpful reply.

I fully intend to pay the early termination fees, it is what it is.

However, I know this LL so I also know that as soon as he finds that we are breaking the lease he will force us to remove the plastic that is keeping the apartment habitable temperature-wise. We have had to close off the bedroom it is so cold. I tried the thing with the vents and it didn't make a darn bit of difference.

The LL is also discriminatory with tenants. If he is given any reason or inconvenienced in any way by a particular tenant he refuses to help and even goes out of his way to be an inconvenience to that tenant (things like entering your apartment whenever he wants for no reason or a clearly fabricated reason, etc.) So I doubt he would exterminate the roaches, but I am sure he'd give retribution for any attempt on my part to get him to.

Out of curiousity, the LL has a camera with video and audio in the building's only elevator. Is it leagal for him to have the footage recorded on his personal tv. in his apartment? I feel this is an intrusion of privacy anyway, but wouldn't mind as much if the footage was recorded in his office, not his living room.

And if he won't put salt down and I can't put salt down, says LL, then how can we safely move our furniture out?

Refusing to help tenants is not discrimination. The LL has no obligation to help a tenant for whatever reason. Unless you are speaking of failure to repair, which is a LL obligation, he does not have to help you and may choose to help whomever he pleases.

As I said before, there is no statute in your state to require any advance notice for LL entry. Since there is no statute for this, there is also no required reason he can use to enter. He can enter for whatever reason he deems is necessary until someone stops him by complaining or filing of his abuse of the right of entry.

You have no make requests for extermination if you want it done. Being afraid of possible retaliation is not a reason to not ask for necessary repairs. If nothing else, call the health department or building inspector. Once cited, he will have to exterminate.

The LL can legally tape in any common area of the building or grounds. So he can tape the elevator, lobby, stairs, or exterior of the units. He cannot tape insdie your unit or in any private rented area. It does not matter whether it goes to the office, his unit, or straight to tape/disc.

I would put down sand or kitty litter then just sweep it off when you are done. No will be harm done to the concrete or wood steps. If you are in the proces of moving out and clean it off when you are done, what could he do?