Roommate house rules

Once you've found your roommate, it's time to chat with them about how things will work - before any money is involved!

You can’t presume you expect the same things, so it’s best to be totally clear up front to avoid any issues down the line.

What to consider

Here's a checklist of things to think about:

Rent – how much, and when is it due?
Security Deposit – how much, and when is it payable? Make sure your potential roommate knows what the deposit is for and what happens to it.
Utilities – what utilities (if any) are included in the rent? If your roommate is responsible for a share of utility bills, how will these be divided and paid?
Insurance – let your roommate know that their belongings won’t be covered by your contents insurance and they’ll need to arrange their own cover.
Extras – will you include any extras in your roommate’s rent, like laundry or meals?
Cleaning – think about who’s responsible for cleaning what, and how often you’d like this to happen.
Smoking – find out if they’re a smoker, and let them know where they can smoke in the property (if at all).
Pets – does your roommate have a pet? Consider whether you’d like to share your home with a pet too, and if so let them know where the pet can go in the house, and if you have any boundaries.
Boundaries – let them know if any parts of the property are out of bounds.
Parking – does your roommate have a car? If so, let them know where they can park this, either on the property or locally.
Guests – your roommate may want to have guests or a partner over from time to time. How often would you be comfortable with?

Overnight guests

A common complaint we hear from homeowners is that their roommate’s partner spends too much time in the property.

One solution is to implement an ‘overnight guests rule’. This basically means your roommate’s partner can stay over as many nights a week as your roommate stays at theirs – meaning the maximum number of nights they can have their partner stay in a week is three. If this does happen, they’ll also be at their partner’s for three nights – giving you the place to yourself.

Try to chat about this before they move in as it can be a really tricky subject to bring up once a pattern and routine has been established in the home.

Formalizing your rules

Include any house rules (like those listed above) in your roommate agreement. This gets rules formalized in writing, and gives you a basis for reference should any disagreements arise down the line.