need some advice: what are my options in this strange rental situation.

By renter, anonymous

We live in a small town near colorado springs, and have been renting a "two bedroom, one bath" for 750/month.   Now there are a lot of sticky legal circumstances surrounding this particular rental, so i will just list them:

* One of our "two" bedrooms is actually an entrance or "foyer" with one of out two entrances/exits.  so, what is the definition of a bedroom??

* The landlord assured us that the small natural gas (not forced air) stove would heat our whole house, but in the winter, we had to sleep in the living room and close off all other rooms (including both "bedrooms" and kitchen) to keep warm and avoid a heating bill over $200.

* Our neighbor who lives below us pays 20% of the water bill (only one meter for the whole place) and we have to pay 80%.  this is billed from the landlord separate and split due to square footage, however, the lease says nothing about splitting the bill, only that we are responsible for all utilities (the neighbor’s lease says the same)

* The house has an unlisted addition that draws electricity and water from our utility bill

* the addition contains a washer/dryer that the landlord has allowed our neighbor to use (which we now pay the electricity and still 80% of the water)

Now, the addition is a nice place, and would double our square footage if we controlled it.  it does not, however, have a complete bathroom or any kitchen and would technically be considered an "efficiency loft" if there was a complete bathroom and kitchen
.
the landlord is talking about wanting to rent the unit to someone else, and we are in the process of negotiating our new lease with them. 

what are our options in negotiating the lease.  we feel that if we are going to have to pay for the heating, electric, and water for the addition that is sitting vacant and (in my understanding) cannot be rented as a stand alone, then we should have use of the addition.

please let me know as soon as you can if you have answers to any of these issues. 

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