Leaking roof for over 1 year.

By jason

On April 27th, 2011, a tornado come through Al.(More info here) During this tornado, a tree limb fell on the roof of my apartment and punctured the roof. Since then, we have had water damage in our upstairs master bedroom. We reported it immediately and have had the maintenace person come look at it two different times. The first time was to see the initial damage. The second time was to check for mold as it hadn’t been fixed yet. The landlord claims to have contacted a roofing company to have it fixed. Since then they have attempted to cover the hole with both a tarp and a piece of metal. Since then it has started to leak into the bedroom everytime it rains. What baffles me the most is that they have repaired other roofs in our complex. They claim that the roofers are giving them a hard time. Unfortunately we signed a new one year lease in June of this year(when they were making repairs to the other roofs with the promise of ours being next). My main question is, if I were to find a new apartment or house, would I be able to get out of this new lease given that the lease clearly states that repairs the the building that they are responsible for by law will be fixed "in a timely manner". How would the law define a timely manner and in this case would over a year be considered that especially since it leaks constantly whenever it rains.

I appreciate any and all responses as long as they are serious.

Thank you.

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