Breaking A Lease Due to Changed Circumstances

[Rachel A.]

I need some advice. This all happened today and affects a Sept. 1 move in. 

I was scheduled to move into a house starting September 1st. When the landlord showed me the house (which is a 5 bedroom group home) he told me that three tenants currently lived there and he was looking for two. That being said he showed me a room on the first level and a room upstairs. The room on the first level was shown and described to me as being "private" and separate from the others upstairs. There was a closed door next to the room that he never addressed. I assumed it was the water heater closet or something along those lines. He showed me a bathroom down the hall which would be mine and a kitchenette down a half flight of stairs that would be primarily mine. I understood someone may need to cook there from time to time. Totally reasonable. I mentioned to the landlord that having my own space was important to me as I have a small dog who is territorial about my room. He said he understood being a pet owner himself. 

When he had shown me the upstairs on my tour he discussed that this is where the other roommates rooms were and that one guy travels a lot an is never there and the others were nice working professionals. 

That being said I signed a lease about a week later. I also never received a copy at that time but I didn't think anything of it. 

Jump a few weeks later and today I was dropping off some boxes to store in the basement prior to the move. The landlord had offered this option to me. When I entered the house I checked on the bathroom that I had been shown and noticed a cabinet door unhinged and on the floor and that the toilet tank cover was displaced/missing and the toilet running. I texted the landlord letting him know that what I had discovered in"my (soon to be) bathroom". He texted back telling me that my bathroom was in the basement. One that I had never been shown. He admitted that he may have forgotten to show me this bathroom. Additionally the room next to mine was now being filled with a male occupant. Again I was very caught off guard because when I toured the house he expressed that the room I would be taking was like "having your own space". When I inquired about that as well he said that two of the roommates were switching rooms. I told him that he never told me that that was a bedroom and had implied all other tenants were upstairs. I told him that based on all these changes I found that what I had agreed to rent and what I would be renting were very different and that I would not be able to honor that agreement. As of now he claims he is in the right and I am responsible for the rent until he fills that room. I readdressed all the flaws which seems omitted on my tour of the house and he says that he never told me I would have my own space etc. I have our entire conversation on text message where he admits to making the mistake of not showing me the right bathroom as well as him saying he would let me out of my lease once he finds an occupant. I cited VA law and addressed the fact that as the landlord he didn't practice full-disclosure of the living situation.

I believe our lease should be nullified as these changes directly impact and change what was shown to me. I also need to know if it is legal for me to close my bank account he was to draw the funds from in order to freeze the transaction until this has been resolved. I have all the funds and can prove it, but I do not want him able to draw money from my account. 

Any advice anyone could offer would be very much appreciated.