Breaking a lease with 4 months left because of bugs
I have lived in an efficiency apartment in Arlington, VA since the end of Feb 2007. I have had my apartment sprayed for bugs (roaches, big crawling things, all kinds it seems like) multiple times (4 or 5), since about April or may when the weather got warmer. It hasn't been sprayed since the beginning of August because I haven't seen very many around, and I've tried to avoid the hassle of taking everything out of all of my cabinets. I haven't tried to leave because of my financial situation; money is tight with my rent at this place and it's the cheapest in the area. Recently, another living option has come up with greater opportunity for a more expensive (and hopefully) better maintained and not infested apartment. This past Monday, my boyfriend killed a roach the size of his thumb. I can't live here anymore, it gives me anxiety, I don't like being home alone or moving things around, for fear something might crawl out... there has been another incident with management, where basically they came to do maintenance on the fuse box, didn't deadbolt my front door, left the bathroom window wide open, left the ac on (this is in august) and there was dust, dirt, grime and pieces of concrete all over my furniture, which they moved to do their work and neglected to move back. I was also out of town so my apartment was left like this for a day or so. I wrote a letter of complaint and got shut down by a response basically saying they don't care and were not willing to do anything or take any sort of responsible action. Is there anything I can do? I feel like under these circumstances, there has to be some sort of law or renters rights or process I can go through to get out of this lease without negative consequences. I don't want to ruin my credit or renting history, I'm currently looking for a new place and I really can't live here anymore, I don't feel safe and comfortable and calm in my own home.
