Living with one or more roommates is not always easy, but it might be a necessity when you can’t afford a house or apartment on your own. Sharing a home with others can be a lot of fun—or not. You can avoid a lot of headaches by carefully selecting housemates and preparing a written roommate agreement that covers the day-to-day details of living together, including how you will resolve any problems that come up.
Often, roommate disputes start with poor communication or a mismatch of expectations. Most roommate disputes can be avoided by laying out simple guidelines and expectations at the beginning of the living arrangement in a written agreement. An informal discussion about who pays rent or does what chores is just not good enough.
Your roommate agreement should cover:
Remember that your roommate agreement should not be at odds with the lease that you and your roommates (cotenants) sign with the landlord. If you put something in your roommate agreement that violates a lease term on something like deposits or pets, it won’t be valid.
Also remember that a roommate agreement is no more than an agreement among roommates. It’s not binding on the landlord, and you can’t expect your landlord to step in if there's a dispute about it, or enforce any agreement you made with your roommate.
Even with a clear written roommate agreement, disputes might arise. Communication is key to a quick resolution. Speak up if you’re upset by something your roommate (or a roommate’s guest or pet) did or didn’t do, said or didn’t say. Calmly explain why you’re upset. Be specific and let your roommate know how to keep the peace in the future. Including a section on dispute resolution in your roommate agreement, perhaps an agreement to try mediation on specific issues, might help.
All roommates should sign the rental agreement or lease, making you cotenants—meaning that legally speaking each of you will be individually responsible for paying the entire rent each month and fulfilling other rental obligations.
Your lease will probably require your landlord’s approval to add or replace a roommate (if you’ve already signed a lease and moved in); savvy landlords will ask you to sign an entirely new lease at this point. Your landlord will likely want to check any potential roommate’s credit record and references and get an additional security deposit. Also, you may see an increase in rent (and the security deposit) if you are adding a new person (not just replacing a current roommate).
Be prepared for a clause in the lease saying that you or a roommate can’t sublet your space to a temporary roommate without your landlord’s permission.
Your landlord can terminate the entire tenancy even if just one roommate causes problems—for example, by not paying the rent, damaging the rental unit, bringing in a dog (if your lease prohibits pets), making too much noise, or otherwise violating the lease. The landlord can hold all cotenants legally responsible for the lease violation of just one person, and take steps to evict all of you.
All tenants who signed the lease are responsible for the rent for the entire duration of the lease whether they live there or not. When roommates move out and don’t pay their share of the rent, you (and the other roommates) must pay the rent in full or face eviction.
You can try to collect rent from the nonpaying roommate. If friendly measures don't work, consider suing your roommate in small claims court.
Although you can ask your roommate to move of the rental unit, you ordinarily can’t evict your roommate yourself. An eviction is a legal proceeding that ends the contractual relationship between the landlord and the tenant. Evictions must be approved by a judge in court. If you have a roommate who will not move out when asked, then the only way you can legally get the roommate to move is to have the landlord win an eviction lawsuit against the roommate. You cannot generally file an eviction lawsuit yourself.
Exceptions exist, however, such as if you rent to a subtenant or live in a rental in one of the few rent control communities, for example San Francisco, that allow a landlord to designate a “master tenant” to perform many of the functions of a landlord.
You can make it easier for your landlord to evict your roommate. Talk to your landlord if getting your roommate to leave is the only way to solve your problem (especially if you fear for your physical safety). Your landlord might allow you to stay and bring in a replacement tenant (assuming your landlord approves the new person). But if you can’t find an acceptable replacement, you will still be responsible for paying the entire rent.
Protect yourself, too, if your landlord decides to evict one roommate. Sometimes roommates become violent during the eviction process. You might need to file an anti-harassment or domestic violence order (local police or a battered woman’s shelter can provide advice). Many states have laws protecting victims of domestic violence, such as by providing early termination rights, and some states consider violence between roommates to be domestic violence. Check your state's laws on domestic violence for more information.
There are many ways to find a roommate. One of the best is to get referrals from a friends, relatives, or coworkers. Depending on where you live, you might check local classified ads, or even school, church, or grocery store bulletin boards. Craigslist is a popular way to find roommates, especially in large urban areas. Other online resources include Roommates.com and Roomster.com.
Even if your potential new roommate is a close friend, you’ll want to make sure you’ll be compatible living together, since you're going to be around each other a lot, sharing expenses, and perhaps sharing food, the bathroom, television set, or yard. You might even be sharing a bedroom.
Be sure to ask questions about everything important to you in a living situation, such as standard of cleanliness or neatness, acceptable noise levels, and frequency of overnight guests (see the discussion of roommate agreements, above, for key issues to discuss). Particularly if you’re considering sharing a rental with a stranger you found online, ask for and check references from former roommates or landlords.
