Did you know? Roommates Are in This Together

One for all.

The landlord can demand the entire rent from just one co-tenant. The rent-sharing understanding you have with your roommates is immaterial to the landlord. In other words, even if you pay $600 for your room without the attached bathroom and your roommate pays $700 for a master suite, you’ll be liable for the full $1,300 rent if for some reason your roommate flakes out. 
What? Yes, this means everyone is equally legally bound to the lease, no matter what agreements you have come up with between each other as roommates!

All for one.

Even innocent co-tenants will suffer the consequences of one co-tenant’s misdeeds. Unfair as it seems, the raucous party that your roommate threw when you were out of town can result in a termination notice directed to you, too.

It’s that simple.

So how can you avoid being tarred by your roommate’s screw-ups? The best answer, of course, is to choose your housemates carefully. Even solid friendships will benefit from thinking ahead to possible areas of friction and planning ways to avoid problems.
 To be blunt: When it comes to paying rent and making good on damage, you are your co-tenant’s guarantor–if they flakes, you pay. But on another note, joint liability doesn’t mean you can evict your co-tenant if they upset you, or you don’t see eye to eye! Only the landlord can do this.

What should you do before taking on a roommate?

Simple: Prepare a Roommate Agreement! Roommates make lots of informal agreements about splitting rent, sharing chores, and choosing bedrooms. It’s important to understand that such agreements do not affect the joint and several liability of co-tenants to the landlord. Just because you and your co-tenants agreed to share cleaning and maintenance duties doesn’t change the fact that each one of you is liable for any damage done to the apartment. And just as your landlord isn’t bound by any agreements between roommates, your landlord cannot enforce them, either.It’s best to put your understandings in writing and ask every roommate to sign it. Oral agreements are too easily forgotten or misinterpreted after the fact.

Choose wisely when searching for your next roommate!