I just signed a lease last friday (Sept 1st) for 12 months at an apartment complex. They didn't do a walk-through with me before I signed. Actually, I had not seen any of these apartments before I signed, so I really shouldn't have signed anything till I had seen it--but I did. The apartment they rented me smells like a cat litter box and there are poop stains everywhere on the carpet. I haven't spent a single night there because of my asthma and allergies. Moreover, when I examined the lease closely, I realized they were charging me $100 more a month than they had originally quoted me (both amounts before taxes, so that $100 doesn't account for taxes and services). She rushed me through the lease so fast I didn't catch it. I do still have the "paper-work" that shows the original price. I decided I really don't want to deal with this place, so I want to break the lease--but I want to do it without having to pay an arm and a leg, because I don't make a whole lot of money and I am also a college student... so I don't have the funds to break this lease the way they would probably prefer. I do, however, have pre-paid legal. Actually, I JUST signed up for it. My member information should have arrived this week. I finally found my mailbox (they didn't tell me where they were located when I signed my lease) and in it was a slip of paper requesting all mail to be routed to a DIFFERENT mailbox number. No name, no date, just that all mail be put in another mailbox. So, chances are, my member information ended up in some other guy's hands. So I can't even use my pre=paid legal! I had heard somewhere that you can terminate a lease without legal or financial reprucussions (within reason, maybe just losing your deposit and having to pay for the month or something like that) within the first 30 days of your lease, but I can't find anything on the internet about that. Does anyone know if this is true, or does anyone have some advice either way as to how I can get out of this place--quickly? Thanks.

Darn. Yeah, I had read in the tenant-landlord agreement something-or-other (something really official sounding) that I could terminate the lease if I wrote them a certified letter and they didn't fix the problem within 10 days (5 if it was a health issue, which I suppose it technically is). I guess I would most likely have to get a doctor to put in writing that I have asthma or something like that...

Yes, I would take picutes of the "poop" stains, and also see a doctor about your allergies.