Should I withhold my rent or do something else?

My fiance and I have been renting 1/2 of a duplex for over 3 years. Last year the ceiling in our home office started to leak. We notified the landlord immediately and he had someone come patch the roof. It didn't work! The next storm same thing, once again we notified him but nothing else has been done! The ceiling is sagging and looks like it could fall apart at any moment. It has also spread into the living room and is ruining one of our sofas. My fiance suggested that we withhold our rent next month. Due to the winter rapidly approaching we're afraid the whole things going to come down with the snow. We would move but it's difficult because we have 2 dogs and 2 cats and a lot of places don't accept pets. We also have 2 little girls. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! We live in Connecticut.

You need to spend aound $100 and go to the court house and file to take him to small claims court...You can make him fix it, plus recoup your $100.Oh, I almost forgot, Do Not withhold rent. You don't want to be on the wrong side of the law. The courts will make him fix it. Let the courts deal with this loser.

Read your lease carefully! Then do what the previous response says to do.

All states require that a landlord provide a safe and habitable place to a renter and these issues are governed by not only the lease but the landlord tenant act of your state as to procedures and performances required by the parties.
When properly providing written notice to a landlord of an issue that does not allow you quiet enjoyment of the premises based on safe and habitable issues, and the landlord does not act on such notice then, in all states that I am aware of, such inactions by the landlord are usually considered "constructive evictions" allowing for you to break the lease hopefully with the assistance of legal counsel.
In preparation for such probable event and based on your explanation, I would recommend that you document everything and take photographs of the issues on hand. I would not withold rent since that could be construed as a violation of your lease terms. Two wrongs do not make a right.
In this forum participants give opinions on subjects that they feel they know the answer to and sometimes those opinions sound exactly like the right answers but they might not be, and anyone can make a mistake, that鈥檚 why I like to give links to resources that you can check all answers against, including my own opinions, in case they are wrong. So to that end here are some links that you might want to check before determining what information you should consider following up on.
LANDLORD TENANT ACT: http://www.jud.state.ct.us/lawlib/Law/la...

Don't withhold your rent. Call the Housing Authority in your state. Look in the White Pages for them.

Take the landlord to Small Claims court. He will lose. You have two kids and winter is coming. If the judge doesn't make him fix the roof them he is insane.

Go to court about this and find free legal aid places near you to help you with your case. Landlord / tenant issues are very common so unless you live in the middle of nowhere, you should be able to find free help.