Developing a roommate agreement is a fantastic way to ensure you and your roomie are clear on another’s boundaries and expectations around the home. Whether you’ll be living with a close friend or someone you’ve recently met, having a document like this is sure to help limit conflicts.
Whether you have food allergies that need to be considered, an alternative schedule your roommate needs to respect, or simply want to ensure the cleaning is done in a timely manner, there are countless items and scenarios your agreement could address.
The following roommate agreement checklist highlights some of the most common items you might include, but you should work with your roomie to develop an agreement that is tailored to your lifestyle. Add or remove any items to customize the checklist to your needs.
- Rent: How much will each of you pay and how the payments will be handled?
- Security deposit: How much does each of you owe towards the security deposit and how will it be returned when one of you moves out?
- Moving out: If one of you moves out early who is responsible for finding a replacement roommate? How will the security deposit be returned, and when?
- Monthly bills: How will you divide up the monthly bills and what is the payment procedure?
- Quiet hours: Do you have a moratorium on noise after certain hours or on certain days of the week?
- Guests: How often are guests welcome to spend the night, how long may they stay, and what rules do they need to follow while inside the home?
- Cleaning and chores: Which chores are each of you responsible for and how will you hold one another accountable?
- Bathroom, kitchen, and appliances schedule: Does it make sense to set schedules stipulating when each of you has primary access to the bathroom, kitchen, or laundry facilities?
- Food sharing and organization: Will you be sharing food? If so, how will you split costs? If not, how will you organize your food to ensure you’re not using one another’s ingredients?
- Pets: Are pets permitted and if so, who will be responsible for their care? Are there areas of the home that are off-limit for pets?
- Allergies: Do either of you have life-threatening or bothersome allergies? Discuss what you can do to avoid aggravating one another’s allergies.
For more information, see our complete guide to writing a roommate agreement.
