You made the mistake of not doing your research before you moved.
The LL is not responsible for crime in the area unless you can prove that she is one who has broken into or attempted to break into the units in your building.
You are responsible for any early termination fees as outlined in your lease. If there is not early termination clause, you will still be responsible for the rent until the unit is re-rented, the costs associated with re-renting the unit, and the total cost to repair any tenant-caused damage since you will also forfeit your security deposit.
ETA: An email is not considered "written notice" and will not hold up in court. You need to send a real letter either via US Mail or drop it off at the LL's office.
Breaking the lease as mentioned above isn't going to work. You are on the hook. If you move out and refuse to pay the rent you owe, you will most likely be taken to course, found liable and the court will order you to pay the rent owed.
What does it matter if there is or is not break-ins?
The landlord is not responsible for your personal safety. If there is no doorman, the apartment can decide to place one there but there would be no requirement to do so.
You can move at any time and if you don't feel safe you should. But you are bound by the terms of the lease.
Alan is completely correct here. She is not obligated to put in a doorman. Her obligations end at repairing broken windows, making sure locks are in working order, and making sure common areas are well lit. That's it. She has no obligation to make the neighborhood safer.
If the apartment is uninhabitable, you can use this to break the lease. Uninhabitable meaning no heat, no water, roof caved in, toxic materials, etc. Cosmetic or nuisance things are not lease breaking offenses.
She is not required to put the rent money into the building, other than to keep the building in habitable condition. You have no say in *what* she does with the money. She can shred it and smoke it in a bong if she wishes.
She may offer you early termination for a fee, just to get rid of you, especially if she has other applicants waiting. If she doesn't have anyone else wanting in, don't expect her to work with you. PA's landlord-tenant laws are very old and out of date and nothing you are describing sounds like negligence on her part. Sorry.
Good Luck
"she has done NOTHING to provide any relief" She is not legally required to do anything of this nature. NO landlord is legally required to provide security, cameras or a door man. Landlords have no control over crime in the neighborhood. This is not our responsibility in any way shape or form.
"she takes our rent and does nothing towards the building. " Landlords are never legally required to make any improvements on the property. They are legally required to fix any health hazards but that is IT. If there is something that needs fixed that is not a danger to any one like something cosmetic she has broken no laws in not fixing it. NO landlord us ever legally required to change something just because its old or ugly. You can call her a slum lord all you want to but from what you posted she has done nothing wrong.
"I think we should be released from our lease early without penalty" You are flat out wrong. You are not legally entitled to be released from your lease & she has every legal right to hold you to it & charge accordingly. Of course she will fight it- You have no law on your side.
Even if there is a police report, not his problem. You are subject to any fees, etc in lease.
Google landlord/tenant laws in PA. Generally that's not a reason to break a lease. Unless your lease contains an early termination penalty you will be responsible for the rent until the unit can be re-rented.
She will probably try to fight it. You will need to argue that her failure to take reasonable security actions interfered with your right of quiet enjoyment and that you consider this a constructive eviction (by not taking reasonable actions, she is forcing you to vacate). Can't predict how it will go - tough one, but good luck.
Here - found this. It may help. From Pennsylvania Landlord Tenant Act Section 250.502-A. Landlord’s duties
The retention of control of the stairways, passages, roadways and other common facilities of a tenement building or multiple dwelling premises places upon the landlord, or other possessor, the duty of reasonable care for safety in use. This responsibility of the landlord extends not alone to the individual tenant, but also to his family, servants and employees, business visitors, social guests, and the like.
Now you will have to prove that the LL had notice of the dangerous conditions and failed to address them. Also, if the Landlord writes back and offers to install security cameras, hire a doorman and/or improve all locks, then you may still be lease bound (you may anyway - the above is just an argument. It is up to the Magistrate...but the fact you have kids may play into your favor. Judges are people too....well, most are.)
I wrote an email this morning informing the Property Manager of my 60 notice to move/break my lease. My lease is actually up in April, but after the hell my family has been through we're leaving early. We live in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, but leased the apt "blind" because we were transferring from another state so we trusted our realtor. The high rise building and the area is very nice; it's the management company that's horrible.
There are no security cameras anywhere in the building, there's no doorman and there's a dentist office in the building. We have a code to get in the front door. There's been multiple break ins. The dentist office has been broken into twice, and there's been 2 attempted break ins on our apt. We let the property manager know, but she has done NOTHING to provide any relief, like put in a doorman. She's a slumlord; she takes our rent and does nothing towards the building. We have 2 small children so we installed a security system.
The last attempted break in was 3 days ago, and that's when we had enough. We called the police and made a police report. So on to the email this morning: the property manager replied saying basically this "there hasn't been any attempted break ins in the building and I want to see this alleged "police report.""
So we're going to provide her with the police report, but I think we should be released from our lease early without penalty. It seems like she's going to fight it so what can be done?
