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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    ny
    Posts
    1

    Default Utility dispute

    I have 5 months remaing on a lease i had signed with three additional room mates. i have not lived in the apartment for the past 6 months, having move in with a significant other. I have a separate heating unit in the bedroom i occupy, the only source of heat for the room, which has never been turned on. I have been paying a quarter of the utlitlies and a quarter of the cable bill. however, since i am not living there and am therefore not watching tv or using any resources, i don't feel reasponsible for continuing to pay a quarter of these bills. I have offered to pay an eighth of the utility bill, to cover the cost of maintaining the common areas of the house, but I am refusing to continue to pay the cable bill, which is a luxury. The room mates want me continue to pay one quarter of the cable and utlities, reguardless of the fact that i no longer live there. Sidenotes: the bills are not under my name and no mention of utlities is made in the lease agreement. I understand that i am obligated to pay rent until i find someone to occupy the room, but what are my legal obligations for utlities if i am not living in an apt. ? Additionally two of the room mates have threatened to leave room mate number 3, whose name is on both accounts, with the remaining costs of the cable and utility bill if i refuse to pay.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Posts
    758

    Default Shared Utilities

    Even though they are not addressed in the lease, your obligation with regard to utilities is whatever you agreed to with your other roommates. If you discussed and agreed to how bills would be paid, that would be an oral contact. If you did not discuss it, but each historically paid a quarter of the bills, that course of historic conduct could be held to imply an agreement that you would share the bills equally.

    If you agreed that all of the bills you describe would be shared equally during the duration of the lease, that is your obligation.

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