Yes, you can break your lease if your landlord refuses to fix things, as long as this is specified in the lease. Your landlord is liable for keeping the home in working order and safe. Contact an attorney to help you with the lease.
No. A lease is a legally binding contract, which obligates both the landlord and tenant to a tenancy for the term of the lease. If you and the landlord both signed a lease, and the landlord refuses to give you occupancy of the property, you need to see a landlord-tenant attorney or tenant's rights group immediately!
a landlord may not EVER break/violate a lease. [unless the tenant wishes it so]
As a tenant, if the landlord wishes to break their own lease, you have the right to seek damages just as they would if you had broken your lease. The usual outcome for a landlord to break a lease is that the landlord forfeits any right to retain the security deposit.
Check your laws.
Yes, if the landlord refuses or is unable to fix it. When conditions exist that make a unit uninhabitable, it is called constructive eviction. It is construed as eviction.
The answer is probably not, but you can have the landlord arrested, or at least file charges against the person. To break the lease, you will probably have to sue in court.
No - that's not a breach by the landlord.
If you paid your rent late, he didn't break the lease - you did. He can now move to terminate the lease.
No. That is not a breach by the landlord.
You can break your lease, but only if you have notified your landlord in writing of the problems and he refuses to fix them (or does not fix them in a reasonable time). If you are considering breaking your lease and moving out: be careful. State landlord-tenant laws have very specific requirements about breaking leases, and if you don't exactly follow the law, you could end up losing a lawsuit brought by your landlord. It is very important that you call a tenant's rights organization in your area without delay. They can provide you free guidance on how to break your lease and move out. You can also call a landlord-tenant attorney for advice (look in the phone book for attorneys who offer "free consultations").
You need to include payment agreements, what happens if he refuses to pay, how much time he has to get out, things he is responsible for in the building, things you are responsible for (damages or things that break), the condition the building needs to be in when he leaves, how long the lease is for.
Landlords give all sorts of crazy reasons for wanting to break leases. This is one of the strangest I have ever heard. A lease is a legal contract. It may contain a clause describing how the landlord can break it. The landlord may have sold the building for a whole lot of money. If he can get you out without having to pay you to break the lease then he gets to keep more money. His short sale does not involve you. He has a different motive. His short sale does not give him the right to break a lease. Your problem is your lease with him.