Roommate Agreement Template (Free, Actually Usable)

Roommate agreements sound overkill until month four, when you and your roommate realize you never actually agreed on whether partners can stay four nights a week or what happens to the couch if someone moves out.

A roommate agreement takes 15 minutes. It prevents dozens of small fights. It's not legally binding the way a lease is (usually), but it's enforceable between you two and it's the record of what you agreed to.

Here's a plain-English template. Copy it, fill it in, both sign, keep a copy each.

When to do this

Before you move in. Or if you're already living together and have never had the conversation, tomorrow. Later is worse than now.

The template

Roommate Agreement

Between: [Name A] and [Name B]

Address: [Apartment address]

Lease term: [Start date] to [End date]

Effective date: [Today's date]

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1. Rent

Total monthly rent: $[amount]

• [Name A] pays: $[amount] ([%])
• [Name B] pays: $[amount] ([%])

Payment method: [e.g., both Venmo to A who sends to landlord on the 1st]

Due date: [Day of month]

Late rent: if either party is more than [X] days late, the other can [remedy, e.g., pay the landlord and be reimbursed the same amount plus any late fees the building charged]

2. Security deposit

Total deposit held by landlord: $[amount]

• [Name A] contributed: $[amount]
• [Name B] contributed: $[amount]

At the end of the lease, each party receives back the amount they contributed, minus any damage they caused.

If one party leaves mid-lease, their share of the deposit is paid back by the incoming replacement roommate, not by the remaining roommate or the landlord.

3. Utilities

Utility	Account holder	Split
Electric	[Name]	50/50 (or [other])
Gas / heat	[Name]	50/50 (or [other])
Internet	[Name]	50/50
Water	[Name]	50/50
Trash / recycling	[Name]	50/50

Payment cadence: [e.g., split when each bill comes in, tracked in Supasplit]

4. Shared subscriptions

Service	Account holder	Monthly cost	Split
[Netflix]	[Name]	$[x]	50/50
[Spotify]	[Name]	$[x]	50/50

5. Groceries and household supplies

Choose one:

• Separate: each person buys their own. Staples (paper towels, dish soap, olive oil) are taken in turns, tracked casually.
• Shared: joint grocery runs, split 50/50.
• Hybrid: staples shared, personal food separate.

Agreed approach: [fill in]

6. Chores

Chore	Frequency	Who does it
Kitchen / dishes	Daily	Whoever dirties them, reset on weekends
Bathroom cleaning	Weekly	Alternate weeks
Trash taken out	As needed	Alternate weeks
Vacuuming / mopping	Biweekly	Alternate
Laundry in shared spaces	Own laundry only	N/A

If a chore isn't getting done: flag it directly, don't passive-aggressive. First reminder is free. Second reminder triggers a re-discussion.

7. Guests and overnight stays

Occasional overnight guests (one night at a time, up to a few per month): fine, no advance notice needed.

Frequent overnight guests (more than [X] nights per month): notify the other roommate.

Semi-resident partners (more than [X] nights per week for more than a month): triggers a utility tilt conversation (e.g., 55/45 on variable utilities). If they're living here full-time, we discuss whether they should be on the lease / contributing to rent.

8. Quiet hours

Weekdays: quiet after [e.g., 11pm].

Weekends: quiet after [e.g., 1am].

This applies to loud music, loud TV, and loud people. Headphones after quiet hours are always fine.

9. Shared spaces

Living room, kitchen, bathroom: communal. Keep the shared spaces reasonable for the other person to use.

Personal bedrooms: private, don't enter without asking.

10. Shared stuff at move-out

Anything purchased 50/50 for the apartment: the person keeping it pays the other 50% of its current (not original) value, or it's sold and proceeds split.

Anything purchased 100% by one person: belongs to them, goes with them.

We'll keep a casual shared note (in Supasplit or similar) of who bought what shared stuff during the lease.

11. Breakdown / early move-out

If one of us needs to move out before the lease ends:

• We work together to find a replacement roommate.
• The moving-out party remains responsible for their share of rent until a replacement moves in OR until the lease ends, whichever is sooner.
• Any lease-breaking fees from the landlord are paid by the moving-out party, unless we agree otherwise.

12. Review

We'll review this agreement after [3 months] and again at the 6-month mark. Anything not working, we adjust.

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Signed:

[Name A] ________________ Date: ______

[Name B] ________________ Date: ______

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Using this template

1. Copy the whole thing into a shared Google doc.
2. Fill in every bracketed blank. Leave nothing ambiguous.
3. Both sit down and read it together. Raise any disagreements now.
4. Both sign. Each keep a copy (PDF or paper).
5. Put it in a shared folder (Google Drive, Dropbox) so you can find it in 6 months.

What this isn't

This isn't a legal document. It's a shared memory. Your lease with the landlord is the legal document. This is just what you two agreed about how you live together.

If you want something with real legal weight (for example, because you're buying furniture together and worried about disputes), get a lawyer. For most roommate relationships, the shared-memory version is enough.

TL;DR

• Use this template to structure your roommate agreement. Takes 15 minutes.
• The important sections: rent split, deposit contributions, utility accounts, guest policy, move-out rules.
• Fill in every blank. Ambiguity causes fights.
• Both sign and keep copies. Revisit at 3 and 6 months.
• Not a legal document, a shared memory. Prevents 90% of "but we agreed" fights.