I signed for a 4 bedroom house with 2 friends for a place to stay during college. The deal was we'd find a fourth roommate and add her to the lease, so we could afford the rent. We've had two people move in and then leave because the landlord never sent the lease or got them to pay a deposit (they both stayed about 2 months time)
Now I've been asking our landlord to send a copy of the lease since February and she told me she will but still hasn't. I've tried to get in contact with her several times and haven't had a response since early February. It's been two months now. We'd like the break the lease early for various reasons but can't get a response from her and can't even get a copy of the lease- she promised to send us each a copy after we signed it and never has. What options do we have? Can she legally just ignore us forever and not let us out of the lease?

Oh, in addition, the house is in pensacola Florida

You never wait for someone to send you a copy of a contract. You get it on the spot, in a place with a copier. The fact that you don't have a copy doesn't get you out of what terms you signed. Tell the landlady that you are leaving in 30 days if you don't get it in 5 business days, even if you are bluffing.

oh, in addition, the house is in pensacola florida

My lawfirm litigates cases in Escambia County every week. :)

In most places, if you break a lease the landlord has the duty to try to mitigate: find another tenant ASAP. In those places, the landlord can only recover the lost rent until another tenant is found. Not so in Florida, where the landlord does not have to mitigate.

If you do break the lease and fail to make the lease payments when due, the landlord can sue you for the remaining payments on the lease. At that point, LL would have to attach the lease to the complaint filed with the court. You will receive this copy at that point.

Florida law does NOT require a landlord to mitigate.

Florida law does NOT require a landlord to mitigate.

Which is what AK said.

The issue here is, you got or should get your copy of the lease when you sign it, so where is your copy?