Lease

Customized Agreements

Roommate Agreement

Settle rent, bills, deposit, and living arrangements between roommates — before you move in, while everyone still agrees.

Also called: splitting rent agreement, roommate moving out early, joint and several liability lease.

What you walk away with

A clean multi-page PDF and DOCX after you finish — not a web-form dump. Preview the document before you pay.

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✓ Jurisdiction first (state → county)✓ State clause pack applied✓ Direct or guided path

Jurisdiction

The tenancy itself is governed by state and often city law, covering deposits, notice, entry, and habitability. Those rules override anything roommates agree between themselves. This agreement states no deposit rule or notice period.

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Jurisdiction details

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Choose the state where the document will be used. The state page shows the maintained coverage level, local-rule limits, and a builder link with the canonical state code already selected.

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When this fits

Use this document when…

Moving in with a friend, partner, or someone you found online
Formalising an arrangement that has been informal and is starting to strain
One roommate is on the lease and the other is not
Splitting rent unevenly because the rooms differ

Before you start

Information you will need

Both roommates, the property, and the lease it sits alongside
Who is named on the lease
Total rent, how it is split, who collects it, and when shares are due
Deposit contributions and how the refund is divided
How utilities and household bills are handled
Shared space, guests, quiet hours, and jointly bought property
Notice to move out, replacement process, and the governing state

What you receive

A twelve-article Roommate Agreement
Signature blocks for both roommates
Completion instructions
PDF and editable DOCX export

Document questions

Questions about this document

What is a Roommate Agreement?

Settle rent, bills, deposit, and living arrangements between roommates — before you move in, while everyone still agrees.

How do I create a Roommate Agreement?

Moving in with a friend, partner, or someone you found online; Formalising an arrangement that has been informal and is starting to strain; One roommate is on the lease and the other is not

What should a Roommate Agreement include?

Both roommates, the property, and the lease it sits alongside; Who is named on the lease; Total rent, how it is split, who collects it, and when shares are due; Deposit contributions and how the refund is divided; How utilities and household bills are handled

Special situations

This agreement binds the roommates, not the landlord. It does not change the lease and cannot limit what the landlord may do.
Where the lease names both of you, you are usually jointly and severally liable. The landlord can pursue either roommate for the entire rent, regardless of how you have agreed to split it.
Moving out does not remove you from the lease. Only the landlord can do that, and until they do you may remain liable for the whole rent even after you have gone.
A replacement roommate normally needs the landlord's approval as well as yours. Moving someone in without it is commonly a breach by every roommate.
Deposit contributions are frequently unequal and almost never remembered correctly at move-out. Record them now.

Frequently asked questions

Does this protect me if my roommate stops paying rent?

Between the two of you, yes — it records what they owe and gives you something to enforce. Against the landlord, no. If you are both on the lease, the landlord can pursue you for the entire rent, and your recourse is then against your roommate rather than against the landlord.

What is joint and several liability?

Each tenant named on the lease is responsible for the whole rent, not just their share. It is the single most consequential thing about sharing a lease and the least understood. Your roommate agreement divides the burden between you; it does not divide it for the landlord.

My roommate wants to move out early. What happens?

They give the notice this agreement requires, and they stay responsible for their share until whatever point you agreed — commonly until a replacement is approved. Leaving does not remove them from the lease, so they may still be exposed to the landlord until the landlord releases them.

Can we bring in a new roommate ourselves?

Only if the lease allows it. Most require the landlord's approval, and moving someone in without it is usually a breach by everyone on the lease — including the roommate who had nothing to do with arranging it.

Do we need this if we are friends?

That is the most common reason people skip it and the most common reason it turns out to be needed. Rent split, deposit contributions, and who pays which bill are the three things that cause almost every roommate dispute, and they are easiest to agree before anyone has moved in.