Let me tell you what we did when we were without hot water for a week. I did a little legal research into the matter, which was basically nothing more than looking up the renting/leasing statues for the state of Texas and parsing through a little legalspeak, and wrote my own letter (per Code requirements) to the landlord which I sent by registered mail. Using the best legal language I could muster, including the liberal use of the section symbol and Code citations, was enough to get the situation fixed.

Never underestimate the power of legalese. In the case of our now former apartment complex, I think management banked on the fact that a lot of tenants wouldn't say anything, since many of them were illiterate, illegal or considered themselves impotent in the matter.

I'd try sending them a nice legal-sounding letter of your own writing and saving yourself some money. The pen is mightier than the sword.

I seem to remember that in Texas, you can, after a period of time, break the lease penalty-free, but for this to work, you have to do everything the statue says, which includes something like two rounds of reigstered letters to make them aware of the problem. After some time, if it's still not fixed, you would have the right to get out of the lease.

But, as I suspect it is with most other things, the laws in Texas seem to favour big business interests rather than the little guy. (Yee-haw!) It might be different in Michigan, and I would lay money on it being a lot easier in more traditionally liberal states like Massachusetts or Washington.

This should be an open and shut case, in your favor.