ASBESTOS in the attic! Tenant with asthma! Can we break lease?

We all know how dangerous asbestos is. We all know how troublesome asthma is. We all know how poorly the two mix, especially.
My boyfriend and I live in a house near Orlando, Florida. Neither of us really have bad allergies, save his to cats. When we moved in the house was a mess. The lazy landlord hadn't even had the place onced over - tehe previous tenant's cat's hair was EVERYWHERE, there were things like food left behind. His excuse? "Oh. It was dark. I didn't see. Sorry." We had to wait for days to unload things off the truck because we couldn't afford for cat hair to get all over our stuff.

The allergic reactions continued, and so did mine. I really don't have any allergies except to dust mites (who doesn't?) and some food related ones, so this was really baffling. My boyfriend's asthma worsened and he's been using his Advair disc twice a day now instead of once as he used to, and using his inhaler daily. My own allergies have been bothering me a lot as well. We ran our Ionic Pro and it was filthy in a matter of days. We gave the landlord a call after waiting for the dust to settle, considering we were moving and unpacking lots of things, hoping that was it, but it clearly wasn't. We asked him to have the air ducts cleaned. His claim was that he's "spent enough money" on the house (having it cleaned and taken care of like he should've in the first place...) and refuses. When my boyfriend insisted that something needed to be done due to his asthma, the landlord's response to him was "God made our bodies to adapt. It sounds like yours just has not adapted yet. You have so many allergies!"

Grrrrrr....

That being said, we had a man over to install DirecTV a month later - allergies and asthma still highly irritated. What do we discover in the attic? ASBESTOS!!!
This house was built in 1969, before that was outlawed. The access hole to the attic is in our garage and is open, there is simply a mesh screen over it. I've read up on the stuff and apparently if you have central air, like we do, the asbestos can still be circulated around in our house.

We want to get the heck out of here. We've visited friends' houses, stores, everywhere. Our allergies and his asthma improve almost immediately once we leave the house.

Are these good grounds on which to break the lease without being charged rent for the remainder? We have 4 months left on this lease. Neither of us wants to be here any longer than even 2 weeks.

If there is any serious health risk that indeed is a reason to leave. Check to see if codes are violated as well.

A professional opinion written will also help in case the LL takes you to small claims,

First, your allergies or asthma are your medical condition and are not the responsibility of the LL. You have to view and decide what places are acceptable to your medical conditions and which aren't. The average person would not have any reaction to the cat hair or dander. But since you knew you had allergies to these, it was your responsibility to check the place for allergens and ask if cats had been there prior to renting. If the place had not been cleaned sufficiently prior to taking occupancy, you could have refused to rent it or refused to move in until it was cleaned. You chose to accept it in that condition and take occupancy of the unit. Next time, refuse to accept a unit that has not been cleaned.

Do you have lab reports that show asbestos? You will need these. And you will need a report to show if this is friable asbestos (that which is available to the air) or enclosed asbestos (which is not usually required to be remediated since it is not harmful unless disturbed - as your TV installer did!) Get these reports. If this asbestos was enclosed and not friable until your TV installer disturbed it, you will be responsible for the problem. Get the report and see what it says. If it was friable previously, you can take action.

Further, unless you had the landlord's permission to have the satellite dish installed, you are in trouble. The landlord can sue you for damaging his/her property. The installer needed the landlord's permission to do the work.

The cat issue was something that was your own fault. You knew you had allergies and you saw the condition of the unit. You should not have moved in. There comes a time when personal accountability has to kick in. You should have asked if the place allowed pets and if there had been any in the unit prior to you moving in.

Your situation as it stands now will not get you out of your lease without penalty. The asbestos was released due to your own actions. Not the landlord's.

Asthma and allergies are not the responsibility of the landlord to cure or fix. That is the responsibility of the person who has them. Your boyfriend surely must have known he had these problems before moving in?

It's time to take some personal accountability instead of blaming the landlord for everything going wrong with your lives.

I have the same problem i moved into this place friday my asthma started friday night looks like ill just have to pay the penalty because I also have asthma mine is mild though i have used my inhaler more times in the past 3 days that I have in 5 years. These attorneys are brutal they obviously dont have asthma comments such as take personal responsibility arent needed just state the law no opinions needed. a walk thur of an apartment isnt enough time to determine if your asthma will be trigger I can be in a room with a cat/dog fur for an hour or so before my asthma starts acting up and asking the leasing consultant "was there a cat/dog in this apartment before" as i did the day after my asthma started you will likely get the dumb person answer "uh i dont know" as i did. But the consensus is the same everywhere i looked that medicial isnt a reason break a lease but anyone with asthma knows that living in a situation where you are hardly able to breathe isnt a place where you are going to be for long so either you will pay the penality or the landlord will hav to sue you hopefully you can either talk the landlord into taking less money or he will let you break it without charge(either way get this in writing) depending on how much the penality is it may not even be worth it for him to sue less than $500 he will pay about $200 in court cost I was in florida for a little while and had a situation with a roommate that didnt want to pay me my security deposit($300) i just settled with her for $100 because it basically would have cost me to much to try an sue. good luck

Obviously, not all of the above comments are by the same poster. Some posters who answer tend to be rude. However, the legal ideas behind the words remains the same, it is the tenant's responsibility to ask questions, check the unit for acceptability, and do their due diligence before signing the legal contract. Questions about allergens for those with medical conditions need to be asked at showing. If the agent does not know the answer, then respectfully ask the agent to check the file and get back to you with the answer. Most LLs know if there were pets in a unit, especially since most complexes charge extra pet fees or deposits for the pets. There is a record in the file of such. The agent may not know it at showing, but he/she can find the answer to your question. If the agent is a third party, they can contact the actual owner and ask the question.