Sharing an apartment is how a lot of people afford to live where they want to live. It also puts your housing and your finances in the hands of someone else’s decisions. A written agreement, made before anyone moves in, prevents most of the arguments — and the ones it cannot prevent, it at least settles.
The Thing Everyone Gets Wrong
Understand this before anything else: if you both sign the lease, you are almost always jointly and severally liable for the entire rent. Not half of it — all of it.
If your roommate stops paying, moves out, or disappears, the landlord can pursue you for the full amount, and your private agreement about splitting it does not bind the landlord at all. The same applies to damage beyond the deposit. A roommate agreement governs what you owe each other; the lease governs what you owe the landlord.
For the same reason, do not write eviction terms into a roommate agreement. As a general rule only a landlord can evict, and removing someone who lives there — even someone who is not paying — is a legal process, not something you can do by changing the locks. Locking a roommate out or removing their belongings can expose you to serious liability.
This is why choosing a roommate carefully matters more than any clause you could write. Compatibility about money and mess predicts more than compatibility about music.
What to Put in Writing
- Rent. Who pays how much, to whom, and by when. If bedrooms differ in size or one has a private bathroom, agree an uneven split openly at the start rather than resenting it later.
- The security deposit. Who paid what, how it is returned, and how deductions for damage are allocated.
- Utilities and shared services. Electricity, gas, water, internet, streaming subscriptions. Decide whose name each account is in — that person is legally responsible — and how the others reimburse them. Spread the accounts between you rather than putting them all on one person.
- Shared costs. Cleaning supplies, paper goods, and whether food is shared or separate. Food is a surprisingly common flashpoint; decide explicitly.
- Cleaning and chores. Who does what and how often. Write it down even if it feels petty, because this is the most frequent source of friction.
- Guests. How long someone can stay before they are effectively living there and should contribute. Overnight guests, and how much notice.
- Quiet hours, smoking, alcohol and pets.
- Shared space and possessions — what is communal, what is off limits, and what happens if something borrowed is broken.
- Parking and storage.
- Moving out. The most important clause after rent. How much notice, who finds a replacement, whether the leaver stays liable until one is found, and how the deposit is handled. Agree this while everyone is on good terms, because you will need it when they are not.
Practical Habits
- Pay traceably. Use a payment app or transfer with a reference, never cash. A record ends the argument about whether March was paid.
- Have everyone sign and keep a copy, including any changes you agree later.
- Ask the landlord about individual leases. Some let each roommate sign for their own room, which removes joint liability entirely. If that is available, it is worth more than any agreement between you.
- Document the condition of the property when you move in, with dated photographs, so the deposit is not a dispute at the end.
- Revisit it when someone new moves in. A new roommate has not agreed to anything the previous one did.
Renting with someone else is also worth thinking about in budget terms rather than just rent terms — see saving money when you rent, and, if things become difficult, what to do if you cannot pay the rent.