Can You Break a Lease Over Disruptive Neighbors, Utliities Costing More than Expected

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Pennsylvania
I have 2 questions.

Me and my S/O and our small children signed our lease in 06/2012 on a 3 bedroom 1 bath apartment. Before signing we checked with the utility company about the prior tenants bills were to make sure that we could afford rent plus utilities (we didn't want to move in to a place and not be able to afford it). The owner of our building assured us that our down stairs neighbors were really quiet. Within days of moving in we found out it is party central including extremely loud music, drinking, drugs, and people coming in and out of our building. After our first month here we started receiving our utility bills everything was good except out electric bill which was a little bit less than our rent which is $775 a month. We figured it was just from moving and our other place.I am a one of those people that keep lights turned off if we don't need them and unplugging un used appliances. And all of our appliances are new and energy star approved. The next few months went by and they are still really high. Just between our rent and our electric bill we are paying $1500 not including our gas bill, water/sewage, and trash . We have had the electric company out here to inspect and they cant find anything wrong with with just looking at our meter. And our problems with the tenants down stairs have not been getting any better even with calling the police and the landlord. I am concerned with our safety with all the parting and drugs and strange people coming in and our of our building. Would I have any grounds on legally breaking our lease because of these 2 reasons? We just really don't know what to do and could use some advice.

Does your apartment have that horrible electric base-board heating? I feel your pain!

Unfortunately, higher-than-expected utility bills are not going to be a valid reason for you to break the lease and unless you can actually prove that the neighbors are a valid threat, that's not likely to work, either.

Nobody can force you to stay put (and this is sadly a risk with apartment living - again, I really do feel your pain!), but just be aware that if you do your landlord will likely succeed in a lawsuit against you.

Is it possible to be moved to a different unit, perhaps?

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Does your apartment have that horrible electric base-board heating? I feel your pain!

Unfortunately, higher-than-expected utility bills are not going to be a valid reason for you to break the lease and unless you can actually prove that the neighbors are a valid threat, that's not likely to work, either.

Nobody can force you to stay put (and this is sadly a risk with apartment living - again, I really do feel your pain!), but just be aware that if you do your landlord will likely succeed in a lawsuit against you.

Is it possible to be moved to a different unit, perhaps?

Thank you for replying. We do not have base board heating. It just sucks because we cant take these neighbors anymore, for instance last night their music was soo loud that my wall mounted tv was shaking and I had some pictures fall off the walls. I called the police at 130 am and they didn't even come up here until my 3rd call and they didn't do anything. I just don't know what to do we cant keep living like this!

I understand - I really do. But legally? You're between a rock and a very expensive place.

Again nobody can force you to stay there. You're free to move. But in doing so, you should expect to be sued for breaking your lease and for a judgment to be entered against you.

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Quoting iggysmommy

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Before signing we checked with the utility company about the prior tenants bills were to make sure that we could afford rent plus utilities (we didn't want to move in to a place and not be able to afford it).

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And the prior tenant's electric bills were what? Clearly they weren't anywhere near $700 per month, or you would have balked.

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Quoting iggysmommy

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We do not have base board heating.

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Safe to say, assuming an electric oven, if you turn on the oven you'll see the electric meter speed up. The utility company didn't see anything unusual when it was out - but something is drawing power to run up that bill. You need to figure out what that is. If you are in an apartment building with a standard layout, built as an apartment building and separately metered, it is unlikely that any outlets outside of your unit were accidentally included in one of your circuits, but that doesn't mean somebody hasn't added an outlet or somehow tapped into your electrical service. (It doesn't seem likely, but it's possible.) Also, if you're doing something energy-intensive, like running window air conditioners in multiple rooms, that could be your answer. If you have an electric water heater, that can eat a lot of energy, worse if you use lots of hot wter. Spot check the meter to see if you ever see it spinning more quickly than usual (when you're not running any appliances that are not normally running, like the oven.)

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Quoting iggysmommy

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And our problems with the tenants down stairs have not been getting any better even with calling the police and the landlord. I am concerned with our safety with all the parting and drugs and strange people coming in and our of our building. Would I have any grounds on legally breaking our lease because of these 2 reasons? We just really don't know what to do and could use some advice.

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What evidence of illegal drug use were you able to give to the police? What did your landlord and the police do in response to the reports and evidence you provided?

The prior tenants bills were under $200 a month over a 3 year period. We do have an electric range and an electric dryer and our furnace and hot water tank are gas we also have central air but don't use it and no window units. What I found to be funny is we turned everything off in the house and unplugged everything while our neighbors were home having a party and our meter ran twice as fast as theirs (which i don't think is right). As for the illegal drug activity I have taken pictures of used syringes, joints, blunts and broken beer bottles in our yard on our porch on their porch and in the hallway which we share to the police and our landlord. Our landlord has had a meeting with us and the neighbors and told them if it doesn't stop then they will be forced to leave and that has been going on since June and trust me it hasn't gotten any better and the landlord hasn't done anything other than warning them

How are broken beer bottles evidence of illegal drug activity? The last I knew, beer was legal.

Just askin'.

Further, this..

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As for the illegal drug activity I have taken pictures of used syringes, joints, blunts and broken beer bottles in our yard on our porch

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..isn't going to help OP.

Yes I know beer and broken beer bottles are not illegal. They happened to be in the pictures with used bloody syringes and blunts and joints. As far an the in our yard and on our porch wouldn't that be considered to be part of our property? Our apartment/ porch is on the top floor there should be no reason why they are up here. The yard I can not argue with because they have access to it as well as the whole city.

How does anyone know who put them there?