Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Georgia

Re: breaking a lease

In some areas, such things can be deemed to interfere with your right of quiet enjoyment. I am not sure where you live but if you are in Chicago (you've given a zip code of 60612), failure to exterminate pests is a violation of 5-12-110 of the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance. If you are somewhere else, look up your local residential landlord tenant ordinance. Send a letter to your landlord letting them know they are violation this section and demand it be corrected immediately and if it is not corrected, you will have no choice but to move out. If Landlord does nothing, then move. Document the roaches as much as possible in case Landlord tries to come after you for breaking the lease.

If you are just looking for some halfway legitimate excuse to move out, you can't just leave without first giving the landlord a chance to fix the problem. Also, there may also be the option to exterminate your place and deduct the cost from your rent, but this is only if the landlord fails to act. Also, this isn't practical if you're in an apartment building because usually the entire building must be exterminated at one time. Regardless, you still have to give the landlord an opportunity to fix the problem. Good luck.