Roommates
If more than one tenant signs a lease, the law says that they are “jointly and severally liable”. This means that every roommate on the lease is responsible for it, but at the same time one roommate can be singled out and held responsible for the whole lease. A landlord can choose to go after just one tenant, some of the tenants, or all of them.
This also means that if one tenant gives notice to end the lease, the lease ends for every tenant. For more on ending a lease with notice, click here.
Be careful when choosing a roommate. When you sign a lease, you are entering into a legally binding contract. If you sign a lease with someone you don’t know very well or who you think is irresponsible, you are risking your home and potentially your money.
Situation
You and your roommate “A” are both listed as tenants on the lease. You pay rent to A, who sends it to the landlord every month. One day, A goes on a vacation and doesn’t come back. The landlord comes to you on the 1st of the month demanding the full rent, plus rent from the past 6 months. It turns out A wasn’t sending rent to the landlord. In this situation, you are liable for the full month’s rent and all the unpaid rent, even though you’ve been paying rent to A every month.
If you are not on the lease but allowed to live there as a roommate and don’t pay rent to the property owner, you don’t have the same legal rights and responsibilities as a tenant. For legal purposes, you are considered an occupant of the unit.
Sometimes tenants pay rent to a roommate listed on the lease (or “primary tenant”) who then pays the landlord. In this instance, your roommate is effectively your landlord, but isn’t considered your landlord under the law. It’s always best to be on the lease, either as a tenant or an official occupant, to avoid being evicted with no notice. If you are not on the lease, make sure you confirm with the landlord IN WRITING that you are allowed to live there.
Some people moving in with roommates like to sign a roommate agreement. This can be used to prevent conflicts between roommates by laying out an agreements like communications during disagreements, guest permissions, cleaning rules, shared space usage, and monthly meetings. Having a written agreement will make it easier to enforce agreed-to terms and to distribute expenses if there is a dispute taken to Small Claims Court.
All disputes between roommates must be resolved through Small Claims Court, not through Residential Tenancies. For more information on filing a Small Claims Court claim, see Disputes & Resolutions.
