answer:Is the issue that the house isn’t heated, or that the heater is broken and your landlord refuses to fix it? I’ll assume it’s the latter. The short answer is: assuming that you believed beforehand when you signed the lease that there would be heat during the winter (if you knew there wasn’t ahead of time, then that’s just what you accepted) and assuming that you’ve asked your landlord to fix the heat and he has not (IMPORTANT: DOCUMENT EVERY TIME THAT YOU LEAVE HIM A MESSAGE, TALK TO HIM, WRITE HIM A LETTER, ANYTHING as proof that he has not acted on your complaints) you could certainly argue in court that the house is not inhabitable, and that you should be able to break your lease and not have to pay rent for the preceeding period of time. However, assuming you litigate, it also means that you are basically saying “I want out of this house” and you need to be prepared to move if a judge rules in your favor. Basically, without knowing all the facts of your case, it’s hard to predict who would prevail in court. I would always, always suggest exhausting all other options before suing (or telling someone to sue you). Litigation is time-consuming, expensive, and the outcome is never certain. Other options include trying to talk to the landlord again yourselves or hiring an attorney to communicate with the landlord (people start to change their position fast when they see lawyers are involved, even if there is no lawsuit). If you live in a large city, there is probably a special landlord-tenant court for just these sorts of disputes. If you contact the court, they can tell you how to proceed legally and may have some referrals for lawyers that handle this kind of work. I don’t think that you should live in unsafe conditions—and heating the house with your oven is definitely unsafe—but you need to prepare yourself for a potentially really long and ugly battle.