Is roommate allowed to say I will be sued if I don't pay utitilies if I move out

[deana032091]

My friend and her boyfriend and my boyfriend and I had decided in July to get an apartment together. We found a place and before we moved in we all signed a notarized agreement saying that her and her boyfriend will pay the rent and my boyfriend and I will pay the utitlities, gas, electric and cable. We also agreed that each one of us would contribute $100 a month for groceries and other household supplies. We signed a one year lease except for my boyfriend who can't live in this apartment because it jeopardizes his job in the school district his in. At first she came to me and said that they couldn't give me money for groceries because they didn't have it because of their car insurance and car payments and phone bills on top of the $550 they pay for rent a month so I said I would pay for groceries for a little bit, that was 4 months ago. Now I want to move out due to them alway having drinking parties that have underage drinking, I know this because she is underage the age of 21 and so are her friends. I work at night so I am not home when they have these parties and I only find out they have had parties when I come home in the morning to find people passed out in the living and the apartment a mess with alcohol bottles and cans all over the place. I have told her I want to move out because I can no longer take all of this and she told me I could move out as long as I still pay the utilities. I told her to find someone to take over my place and to pay the bills since I want out. I have even told her I will go to the landlord to try to get my name off the lease, I was told if I do that then she will sue me because I signed the lease and we have our agreement. What I want to know is, I am legally able to get out of the lease if I have a notarized agreement saying I am legally not responsible for the rent and that I am legally not responsible for the utitlies if I am not living in this apartment no longer.

 

[jharris352]

The problem isn't your roommate it will be the leasing agent. No one is going to let you out of a lease for those reasons. Your friend needs to stop buying alcohol and pay for groceries. I love it when people say they have this or that to pay for and can't pay for food but they still eat!

You probably will have to continue paying the utilities. That is actually your part of the rent. I would deduct $100/mo out of those utilities if they refused to pay for groceries. They will eventually get tired of not eating and doing so in the dark.

Like I said though, as long as you are on the lease, no one is going to let you out of it.

 

[mightymoose]

Give your friends 30 days notice that you are moving out and do your part to try and find someone willing to take your place. That will get you off the hook for sure.
I am just taking a wild guess here.... from the sound of it, I highly doubt your friend would pursue any action in court anyway. If she did, you could counter with a demand that she pay the gpast due grocery money... at which point she would drop the ball and go away.
If you let the landlord know what is going on, he might just decide to boot all of you out anyway. It sounds like a really bad arrangement that is just going to result in problems anyway.
You aren't stuck, and you aren't going to have to pay for services you didn't receive.