Apartment Lease?

We have an upstairs apartment along with a small office up here, and a restaurant below. To be straight, we have cats but aren't allowed pets. Which is a big concern for this issue. We do want out of our lease if at all possible. There was a problem with a small leak from our air conditioning system leaking into the restaurant below. They came and tried to fix the problem, but it was still leaking some, so they have to do further work on the wall in the restaurant below. We came home one night and the door to our apartment was unlock, that was 4 nights ago. Today, as we're leaving we find out that the person in the office next to us let in the plumbers. one, we were never informed they had a key.2 our lease says that the landlord/associatesof the landlord can only enter the apartment with 24 hour notice or if it's an emergency, which this obviously wasnt. This sucks for the fact that we do have cats (dont know if anyone knows yet) but also because of privacy.Any options we have?

Can we get out of the lease now? Will we be charged any further rent? So confused and not very happy about all this!

they have to give 24 hours notice. im not sure if it qualifies as a breach of the entire lease, i dont think it would be unless it was continuous.
Why not just give 30 days notice, citing the intrusion as your reason, and see what happens? Tell them they breached the lease agreement that you were to have 24 hours notice of entry, and they have broken that so you are entitled to break the lease. see what happens. they may not fight it. but give 30 days!

That's not sufficient grounds to break your lease. What's not an emergency for you may be a big deal to the landlord or restaurant. You don't get to make the call on a bonafide maintenance issue. If it were a hole in the drywall or a door that sticks, they couldn't enter under those circumstances, but a leak of any kind requires immediate attention. You'd lose in court for breaking the lease under those circumstances.

As for the guy in the office having a key, tell the landlord that you want the locks changed. If that guy is a contact person for the building, though, he has a right to have a key, as does the landlord. Depends WHY he has a key.

legally, just to let you know, no one can force you NOT to have a pet, they can't throw you out for it - BUT you can be liable at the end of your lease or when you move for heavy clean up (that may exceed your security deposit) to get rid of any damage and allergens.

And as far as them going in without your permission, #1 it will be your word against theirs that they tried to contact you, #2 depending on where the leak was coming in, it could be considered an emergency at the restaurant level due to health inspection, you can only break your lease if there are inhabitable conditions....you are just irritated.

Call your landlord and insist the locks be changed.