roommates make apartment unliveable

[Joseph Weiner]

I got my first apartment this august. I lived in a cooperative house for two years before this. Me and two other people from the coop and another person from their hometown moved in together in a 4 bedroom flat. They have all proven to be slobs.

One roommate has a festering cesspool collection. Actually it is fermenting vegetables. There is nothing inherently wrong with fermenting vegetables but about 3 square feet of counterspace is covered with his little projects. They frequently do canning, and then leave the jars of applesauce, or salsa, or whatever it happens to be all over the counter for several days.

I have washed the dishes every night for weeks in a row, because If I didn't I wouldn't be able to use the sink. A couple of days ago I cleaned the kitchen table, sink, and countertop (like every night) and left a note indicating that I had done this and requesting that they keep everything clean. The next day there were about 3 dirty pots and pans, and by today there is about 8 dirty pots and pans piled up on the counter. Is it just me, or is this completely ridiculous. I can't even make a simple meal without moving their dirty dishes out of my way.

I asked one of them to clean it up and he started yelling at me and accusing me of "bitching" which is his usual way of handling my requests. We are all on the lease And I want out. They have all made it clear to me that they will make this difficult for me. I know that in order to assign, I need written consent from them, but they insist that the assignee has to be somebody they know. At this point I feel like they deserve to live with hoodlums and theives because they have completely failed to respect me in any way, and I am a clean roommate.

Today, after I asked them to clean their mess they were calling me lazy and telling me they hated me. Do I have to live this way, just because I signed a lease? I respect our landlord, and don't want to inconvenience him, but I can't live like this!

In a worst case scenario, If I had to bail on the whole scene because they won't consent to a subleaser or assignee( I don't know the legal term) What will it do to my renting history If I just move out? Is there anything I can do to make them clean? They are completely unreasonable and selfish. I cannot simply ask them because they will attempt to verbally bully me into putting up with it. Can anybody please tell me how I can escape this situation besides paying for A place that I can't live in.