My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: New York
We are a married couple living as tenants in a condominium building in White Plains, NY. Our apartment has 2 cooling/heating units - one ithe living room and the other in the bedroom. The unit in the bedroom does not work. We started requesting our landlord to fix it once winter set in (early October). She kept promising that she will either replace it or get it fixed. In the meanwhile, she provided us with a small portable heating unit. By November end, we started calling her up more regularly to check on the problem and she stopped taking our calls. Out of frustration, we delayed the rent by 9 days in December (but paid). After this, her boyfriend took over from her and started threatening us (in emails) that they will not tolerate any such delays in future and that we have to pay late fee etc. We categorically told her that we will be dealing only with her since she signed the lease. After that, we started emailing her documenting the problem at every step. Till Jan 1st week, she did not respond to our single email or phone call. Finally, we got in touch with the local Building Department and filed a complaint. They came over for an inspection and found the temperature to be less than 68F (it was 67.4F) (state law) and they issued a violation notice. After recieving the violation notice, she responded for the first time threatening us with eviction saying that we have broken the lease in the past. The enforcement officer came for a second eviction anf the temperature was found to be 66.4F this time. We have been adviced the following:
1) Go the local HUD office and seek their help with rent reduction.
2) Go to the local claims court and seek help with declaring the lease null and void
We are not interested in rent reduction. We simply want to leave our current apartment as soon as possible. My question is whether we can break the lease without being liable for the remaining lease term? Our rent is $1950 and we are liable to pay either the full rent (if they don't find another tenant) or the difference in rent (if they find a tenant at a lower rent). We are also concerned about our deposit which is 1.5 times our monthly rent.
We have enough proofs to prove our case:
1. Violation notice by the Buildings Department
2. State issued directives by the Department of Emergency Services that portable heating units are a hazard and should not be used when everyone is sleeping in the house (which means we cannot use it when we need it the most). they have been making big claims regarding this.
3. Our emails from the last 2 months requesting them to correct the problem.
4. Certified mails sent to her stating the problem
Can someone please help. Thank you.

