Finding a roommate can be a challenge in and of itself.  But once you’ve done so, you’ll still need to make sure that everything goes smoothly while you’re living together.  Whether your new roommate is a longtime friend or someone you’ve just met, a roommate agreement can help clarify the legal and financial relationship between you and the person (or people) with whom you’ll be sharing your home.  Here are some suggestions for drafting — and sticking to — a roommate agreement.

Benefits of a roommate agreement
Like many legal contracts, a roommate agreement has two main benefits: drafting it can help you focus on what is most important to you, and it can be referred to if something goes wrong.  A roommate agreement can be especially helpful if only one of the roommates is on the lease.  If you’re not the lease-holder, a roommate agreement can spell out under what circumstances your roommate is allowed to ask you to leave.  A roommate agreement won’t be legally binding, but you can take it to a mediator and use it to plead your case, if relations with your roommate ever deteriorate to that degree.

Details in the agreement
A roommate agreement can be as basic or as detailed as you want.  Nolo.com has a sample roommate agreement available.  Some topics you might want to cover are:

• Rent: Are you splitting the rent equally, or according to how much space is allocated to each roommate?  Does one roommate handle paying the landlord, or does everyone pay separately?
• Security deposit: This may be handled the same as rent, or differently depending on whether one roommate signed the lease and moved in before the other arrived.  If one roommate paid the entire security deposit, you might need to include an agreement as to what happens if the deposit is not refunded after all roommates move out.
• Ongoing expenses, including utilities and groceries.  As with rent, you can split these equally among all roommates or make different arrangements depending on use. (Read: Dividing Assets)
• Pets: If one roommate brings a pet, then that roommate should be responsible for any pet deposits.  If you’re going to assume joint responsibility for a pet, that arrangement needs to be described in detail — including who takes the pet when everyone moves out.
• Space: In addition to designating who sleeps where, you can agree on divisions of common space, such as a pantry, cabinets, closets, or bathrooms.
• Overnight guests:  One roommate may be up for hosting a significant other or old friend for long periods of time; another may feel uneasy at the thought of having strangers sleep over.
• Renovations:  Can your roommate move furniture around without your permission?  What about painting, or changing the window treatments?
• Noise:  If one of you needs quiet at certain hours of the day or night, better to specify it before move-in than after a week of no sleep or disrupted days.
• Chores: You may want to specify who has responsibility for cleaning what early on, to avoid arguments later.
• Moving out: If one roommate has to leave early, how will he or she help the others find a new tenant?  Who will coordinate the final walkthrough with the landlord?

The person who is already on the lease may want to take the initiative in drafting a roommate agreement, but any roommate can suggest it, as long as everyone involved agrees on the content.  If you find yourself feeling pressured to sign a roommate agreement you’re not comfortable with,  maybe you need to look for new roommates.