Misrepresentation in lease

I have been renting a townhome in MD for 3 months now and I found out about a month ago that there was someone living in my basement. The lease states the basement is not for rent and when I asked the landlord about this he originally said that he just had personal belongings down there and nothing to worry about. Probably against my better judgment I signed the 1 year lease and now want a way out. The elderly lady who lives downstairs has only one exit from her place (safety hazard??), has not been paying any money into utilities, and the landlord keeps telling me that she is rarely there and is moving. I did not agree to living with a person in my basement. I agreed to a basement that is used for landlord's storage. Do I have any right to break lease?

[OHlandlord]

NO. Where or if another person lives in any area outside of your unit is not your business. It is not a legit reason to break the lease. You did not rent the basement. The LL is free to rent the basement as living space, storage space, or whatever, as long as he get the proper approval. Many older units are grandfathered into the new codes, so they may or may not have to have 2 exits from her place. Even then, it is that tenant's problem to deal with, not yours. Unless your lease lists the basement as yours and as being covered under your leased area, it is not your concern.

You say that this tenant is not paying any money into utilities. How would you know? Do you know for sure that her unit runs off your utilities, and not off her own seperate meter (which could be inside in the basement)? If you know for sure (and have documentation to show) that her utilities come from your meter, then you have cause to complain in writing to the LL and ask for a rent credit for the amount of utilities she is using.

Still, you cannot break your lease for this.