Breaking a lease over gas bill disputes, rodent problems, and many other landlord problems!

My friends and I moved into an apartment in Philadelphia, pa in June 2008. In this particular apartment there is one gas meter for two units and one thermostat which is not located in my apartment. This is a three floor apartment building so the landlord has the gas split for us, the upstairs apartment and two floors, to pay 67% and the bottom floor pays 33%. Since the cold, the bottom apartment has jacked the heat up and down, up and down so that we are either scalding hot or freezing cold and the bill is OUTSTANDING! Now when I called the gas company they said that they thought that this may be illegal that he's doing this. There are MANY other problems that we're having with this apartment and our landlord and we have expressed interest in leaving. Does this give us any pull in actually breaking the lease and getting ALL of our money, including the bill from the bottom apartment which is now vacant? Oh p.s. The gas bill is in my name, which he kind of tricked me into.

Now the other problems that we're having are outstanding. We have a rodent problems, our windows don't lock, and the door was improperly made to the point where you could press a button and get into the apartment. Oh and there have been many false promises from the landlord and we aren't sure if he actually had this place inspected before we moved in! We have asked to see his permits however he has not produced them! Thanks for your help! - Is this your question? Add additional information