cern. This also means thatyou are all protected under the terms of the lease.If a roommate is moving in during the course of an existinglease, the landlord may run a credit check on the new roommate,and his or her name should be added to the lease. If a securitydeposit is required, the new roommate should pay his or hershare.It is also possible that the landlord will require a new leaseat a higher rate if a new roommate moves in.Unless you are covered by rent control or the increase isobviously an attempt to prevent the additional roommate, he isentirely within his rights to do this.Payment of RentThe roommates must agree amongst themselves who is responsiblefor which share of the rent, whether they will pay it to oneroommate who pays the landlord or if they will pay itindividually. This agreement is outside the lease, and thelandlord isn't bound by it nor can he enfo...

...rce it.UtilitiesAs with the rent payments, roommates need to agree amongstthemselves how the utilities will be paid each month, whose namethe utilities will be in. In my previous roommate situations, Ihave found it useful to split up the utilities, so each roommatehas one or more in his or her name. Each roommate is thenresponsible for paying a share of the utilities each month tothe roommate who receives the bill.SpaceDeciding before moving in who will get which bedroom and howcommon rooms will be used may prevent a lot of problems lateron. It is also useful to set out how private the private spacesare (e.g. does roommate A mind if the others go into his room touse his computer?).NoiseYou and your roommates are friends, you've partied together, youlike each other. However, noise is one of the things that candrive a wedge into that friendship. Decide before you move inwhen the "quiet hours" will be. Does everyone have to turn theTV or stereo down after 10 on week nights? Are parties allowedon weekends, and if so, what arrangements must be made ahead oftime with other roommates?GuestsCome to some agreement about overnight guests, both of theromantic type and those who expect to sleep on the couch. If youonly have one living room couch, it will be kind of difficultfor two roommates' sisters to sleep on it, so how do you reserveit? And what about those boyfriends/girlfriends who all but movein?FoodAre you going to share food expenses and eat your mealstogether, or is it every man/woman for him/her self? How willyou share responsibilities for cooking and shopping? How willyou know whose food is whose?Cleaning/MaintenanceHow clean will you keep the apartment? Who is responsible forwhich household chores? When should those chores be done?Moving OutWhat happens if one roommate needs to leave before the leaseends? How much notice should he or she give? Does he or she needto find a replacement roommate (with the approval of the otherroommates and the landlord)?MediationYour landlord has no obligation to enforce any agreement madebetween roommates. There are mediation services which can beused to mediate legal disputes between roommates. Decide aheadof time what you'll do if you come to an impasse.Get it in WritingNOLO provides this sample roommate agreement which you can useas a template for making your written agreement with your newroommates. It should clearly spell out the "rules" governingyour co-tenancy and be signed by each roommate. If you want, youcan even take it to a notary public and have it notarized,though that's not really necessary....