• Rent and deposit

  How often rent is paid, the amount, how it is shared, who collects it and keeps the records, and the deposit.

• Utilities and household costs

  Which services the roommates cover, who is responsible for each bill, who holds the account and any deposit.

• House rules

  Smoking, alcohol, illegal activities, parties, quiet hours, guests and personal property, plus rules in your own words.

• Household duties

  Cleaning, pets, parking, which roommate has which bedroom, shared space and damage.

• Leaving and ending a tenancy

  Notice, a forwarding address, abandoned property and the cases in which one roommate may end another's tenancy.

• Your own clauses

  Additional clauses written exactly as you type them.

• A lawyer reviews it before it is used

  Your answers are prepared into a draft and reviewed by a qualified lawyer, rather than handed back to you as a finished form.

A roommate agreement is a written agreement between the people sharing a rented home. It records who pays what, how bills and household costs are split, the house rules, and how a roommate can leave or be asked to leave. It sits alongside the lease with the landlord and does not replace it.

This builder asks for the property, the lease start and how it ends, the roommates (up to four) and the landlord, how long the roommates' agreement runs, how rent is paid and shared, the deposit, which utilities the roommates cover and who pays each, and other household costs. It then asks about house rules (smoking, alcohol, parties, quiet hours, guests, personal property), household duties (cleaning, pets, parking, bedrooms, damage), and how a tenancy can end, notice, a forwarding address and abandoned property.

The agreement records the roommates' own choices. It does not say what the law allows about smoking, guests, ending a tenancy or discarding property, and the draft does not set out what your state requires. Every amount and period is one you give.

Not sure? Talk to an attorney about your situation first.

These are separate documents, for different jobs.

• Residential lease agreementsSet the terms for renting a home.View document
• Security-deposit agreementsSet how a security deposit is held and returned.View document
• Sublease agreementsRent out all or part of a place you're renting.View document
• Lease amendment agreementsChange the terms of a lease already in place.View document

• Three friends renting a house together
• A student joining an existing household
• Splitting a lease and utilities unequally by room size
• Agreeing pet and parking rules before a move

• Residential lease agreementsSet the terms for renting a home.View document
• Commercial lease agreementsSet the terms for renting business premises.View document
• Short-term rental agreementSet the terms for letting a property to a guest for a short stay.View document
• Offer to leaseOffer to lease commercial space on stated terms.View document