Roommates
Write a Roommate Agreement Before You Sign
The lease covers you and the landlord; a roommate agreement covers you and each other. Keep it to one signed page: rent split and due date, utilities, deposit shares, cleaning, quiet hours and guests. Add how much notice someone gives before leaving and how a replacement is chosen, since the landlord still has to approve them.
Why this helps
A lease tells the landlord how things will work. It doesn't tell your roommates. One signed page answers the small questions now, so they don't grow into big ones later.
Do this
- Keep the agreement to one signed page. Short pages are the ones people actually read.
- Write the rent split and the due date. Everyone should know their own number.
- Write the utilities, the deposit shares, the cleaning, the quiet hours, and the guests. Deposit shares are easy to forget, so get them in writing.
- Write how much notice someone gives before leaving. A little warning gives everyone time to plan.
- Write how a replacement is chosen, since the landlord still has to approve them. Knowing the steps keeps a move out from turning into a scramble.
Next step
Sit down together, fill in the page, and have everyone sign. Then have every roommate sign the move-in deposit distribution form too, couples included. Choose a joint check, an agreed split by signed shares, or all to one named roommate who repays the others. Do both before you sign the lease, and you're off to a good start!