if you signed a rent with option to buy and you decide not to do it, can you get out of it early

You have not provided enough information to give you a good answer, so all I can say is maybe. If your reason for wanting to get out is simply that you have changed your mind, then the answer is probably no, absent some fraud or misrepresentation.  As a general proposition, the law protects the individual right to contract. That means that the law will generally not interfere with a contract, even if a person made a really bad bargain. If the other person has breached the contract in some way, you would be justified in breaking the contract too. If they other person has kept his/her part of the bargain, then you are obligated to keep yours. If there was some impropriety in the formation of the agreement, you might have an out. Perhaps, the most common impropriety is fraud or misrepresentation. The conditions that you have identified (slanting floors, floor shaking, outlets shorting) might have been detected with a home inspection and some due diligence on your part. The adage "buyer beware" comes to mind. Latent defects (hidden defects that could not be detected by visual inspection) might be a legitimate reason to break a contract, depending on what the contract (lease with option to buy says). If you negotiated a contract and had the representation of an attorney, there should be representations and warranties in the contract. What do they say? If any of those representations and warranties have proven untrue, you might have a basis to break the contract. If there are no representations and warranties, then you may be stuck with the bargain you made, unless there were verbal representations made. If you asked, "Do the outlets work without shorting?"; and the answer was , "yes"; then you might have a reason to break the contract based on misrepresentation. The contract is two fold: a lease; and an option to buy. That you have decided the property is not a good purchase does not invalidate the lease. The defects in the property would generally have to make the property uninhabitable to give you a lawful reason to break the lease (unless you are in a jurisdiction, like Chicago, in which local ordinances may provide relief short of uninhabitability). The bottom line is that you really need an attorney to review the lease/option to but contract, determine all of the facts and give you an opinion whether you have a legitimate reason to dishonor the contract. The other thing you could do is attempt to negotiate with the owner to let you out early. If he/she knows you will not exercise the option to purchase at the end of the lease, may he/she would be willing to let you out early to find someone who is interested in buying. This answer is not intended to create an attorney/client relationship or to be relied upon as legal advice in your specific situation. You should consult with an attorney who can give you that advice in light of the exact wording of the document and all of the relevant facts.