Speaking as a practicing slumlord, if you can keep a secret just between the two of us, it is within your rights to cancel your lease prematurely if the landlord is not keeping the property up to reasonable expectations. Notify said and move out. Certified mail, triple copies, etc and so forth. The landlord will not credit you for unused rent or credit you for his underperformance....unless his operation is such that his image is important to him, in which case he'll be drummed out promptly from the Slumlord Brotherhood, because guys like that make the rest of us look really bad. He is also unlikely to spend any money trying to shake you down for canceling the lease.
Kiss your deposit goodbye, too. LOL!!!!
But at least you'll be out of the (his) slum
ps, tenant = FAIL
Funny you should bring this up. I had a (50+ yo) tenant call me the other night complaining about how, now that he has a *goshdarn* real job for the first time in his life, it is disrupting his sleep patterns, which is worsened by the furnace kicking on in the middle of the night. He asked if I would insulate the property.
I told him it was insulated. He persisted. I told him no amount of insulation would stop the furnace from kicking in at night. He persisted. I told him I had no interest at this time in spending any money insulating the property further. He presisted. I reminded him I didn't throw him out on the street when he fell two months behind in his rent, not too long ago, before getting this new job that is now ruining his once comfortable life.
He STFU.
In this business, it is all about finding that trigger that gets these people to STFU.