> I def. stopped paying my rent a few times until my landlord fixed their shit

In most municipalities, this is OK so long as the thing that needs to be fixed is a habitability issue. Heat, water, etc

> One day he showed up at my place (with soup who was coming to fix something) and tried to enter. I told him to stay out.

??? You wouldn't let him solve the issue you stopped paying for? How do you justify that?

The issue he stopped paying for was an explicit rejection of their tenant rights, and fixing a separate issue doesn't fix that.