My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Missouri
My husband I located a larger home in Missouri after looking for a few days; The property manager really "sold" the home to us, told us that multiple people had been looking and this home wouldnt last for long. We filled out the application. While viewing the home we noticed it was a little dirty and the manager mentioned the home had been cleaned when it was put on rental but that it had a roof repair and that it should be cleaned up again. Fast forward to move-in, walking through the home I noticed none of the nail holes had been filled, there were chips in the paint on corners and walls, spider webs, did not appear the home had been cleaned up and approx. 10 air freshners place all over the home. The home was a "no pet" property, but apparently the previous tenant had a trained police dog that was kept in the home. The longer we were in the more issues we found, dog hair matted in the corners of the carpet, odd stains on the walls at "dog level" and the worse, I over powering dog urine odor in the closet of one of the bedrooms. i took photos of much of the damage, although you cant prove "stink" We turned in our "walkthrough" noting the issues, and the pictures. I then started noting that cracking in the basement floor was increasing along with wall buckeing and cracks in doorframes. I called the city building inspector who came out. He suggested I write a letter to the proeprty manager informing her of the issues. I sent the letter certified mail, and also let her know it had been 17days since the first letter noting issues had been turned in. I told her the home needed the floor repair and we wanted released from our lease. SHe finally jumped, called me and explained that hte building inspector is not "licensed", settling is normal in foundations here (the foundation is well beyond settling, the home was built in84) and that the homeowner would not consider a repair unless someone licensed said it needed repair. The final nail is the coffin was the utility bill we received for appoximately 9 days of service costing us $195. we expected a high bill seeing the age of the home and the size, however if we are expecting $600 month we cannot afford to live here and believe that is an excessive expense we should have been warned of. My husband is in the military, and we now have an opportunity to live on post. Additonally, she did not give us a copy of the lease, and when I requested it she said her "accountant" and out of the office and she would call me the next day. Its been 2 days and I have heard noting. Do I legally have any options to move out of the home without having to involve the military? I spoke to our JAG on post but he seemed to be more concerned about the best interest of the home owner and property manager than My husband and myself in terms of getting us out of this horrible situation. He suggested we sublease the home, which I cannot do in good conscience knowing the issues we have had (additonally I think our lease forbades it) He even told me to discount the rent to get someone inhere however that would cost us more in the long run than just walking away and losoing our entire deposit. We asked the homeowner to discount the rent but they refused, and everyone we have spoken to has said we are paying more than market now. I FEEL SO TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF!

