Star reporter Kynala Philips decided to move out of her apartment the day she woke up and found a nickel-sized cockroach crawling next to her toothbrush. For eight months, she had been living in the newly renovated, 1,000-square-foot two-bedroom unit in midtown. She had known about the cockroaches since her second week there, first spotting a little critter in the bathroom, then one in the bedroom big enough to pay rent, and tried working on the problem with the property management company, OneCity KC. Nothing seemed to work. She decided it was time to break her lease. But she soon learned it is not easy — or simple. For her, it was just the start of a long, sometimes difficult process in which she had to navigate the clauses in her lease, negotiate with the landlord and learn about everything from city ordinances, rental assistance programs and state law. Along the way, she sought help and advice from housing advocates like kctenants and city inspectors before finally making a dec...