Wednesday

Roommates And Leases
Now that you found a roommate, the next step for you to do is to put your roommate on the lease.  Obviously not everyone will want to do this, but it's advised that you do.  However, the decision will ultimately lie up to you.  Just keep in mind that if you don't add your roommate to your lease, you could face consequences if caught with someone else living in your apartment.

Leases
An apartment lease is a legally binding contract between a tenant and a landlord that outlines the terms and conditions of the contract as well as the responsibilities of both parties.  A lease will include information like the occupants of an apartment, lease term, rent amount, late fees, pets, etc.   

Once your roommate is added to the lease, they will have the legal right to live in your apartment regardless whether or not you lived there for 1 year or 5 years by yourself.  At the same time, they are equally responsible for the terms and conditions outlined in the lease. With that said, if you or your roommate break the lease or violate any of the rules within the lease, you both could be subjected to monetary penalties, an eviction, a lawsuit or all three by your landlord. 

Importance Of Selecting The Right Roommate
I've said it before and I will say it again: make sure you select a roommate you like and are compatible with because there is nothing worst than living with somebody you hate (this includes evaluating whether or not it's a good a idea to live with your best friend).  I should know because I had my fair share of roommate nightmares.  If you wake up one day and decide you don't want to live with your roommate anymore, it will be very difficult for you to get rid of them because they are on the lease.   So with that in mind, before moving anyone into your apartment, make darn sure you are comfortable living with that person for at least a year (or for however long your lease term is).

Roommate Disagreements
There will be times when you and your roommate will have disagreements where the two of you will not get along, that's inevitable.  Small disagreements can usually be discussed and resolved fairly easily.  However, if a disagreement arises where a resolution can't be met that leads you to believe you can no longer live with that person, you have a challenging road ahead of you. Remember, your roommate has a right to live in your apartment if they are on the lease.  If the problem persists and you can't bare to live with your roommate anymore, try asking your roommate to move out.  Here's the kicker...what do you do if they refuse to move?  If something like this happens, I advise you go immediately to your landlord to discuss your options.

Whether you live in a private duplex or a 200-unit apartment building, no two leases will be the same.  Therefore, you never know what your landlord can do for you.  Your landlord may be able to place you in another apartment where you won't be charged any additional fees or penalties or they might have a community mediator that's experienced in handling roommate disputes.  That's the good news.  On the other hand, if you find your landlord is unable to help and you absolutely can't resolve the dispute with your roommate on your own, you have several options:

1. Tough it out and continue to live with your roommate until the lease is up 
2. Break your lease and YOU move out
3. Seek a mediator
4. Seek a lawyer if the situation is really serious
5. Go to small claims court if suing for money (i.e. back rent, damages to property or personal belongings etc.) 

Breaking Your Lease
To be honest, I never broken a lease before and therefore I don't know much about it. I came close when I had a situation with an ex-roommate from hell, where I never signed my name to the new lease with his signature on it.  Yes I know it's hypocritical to say add your roommate to the lease when technically I never added mine.  In all honesty I was going to, but because of my heavy work load due to my school schedule, I never got around to doing it.  Luckily for me, after living with my roommate for a few months, I realized the arrangement was not going to work out.  

Now, my landlord was constantly calling me to come down to the management office to sign the new lease agreement.  I was just deliberately avoiding my landlord because I knew signing the new lease would give my roommate every right to be in my apartment.  Still, I'd figured since my roommate was already living in my apartment and had already signed his name to the lease, I wouldn't be able to legally evict him anyway. 

Concerned and fed up with my roommate (he had stopped paying me rent), I finally went to my landlord to talk about my troubles and see if I had any options.   To my surprise, because I didn't sign my name to the new lease, the apartment was still legally mine under the old one.  If I wanted to evict my roommate I could.  So guess what...I did (I wanted a female roommate anyway)!  True, not exactly an example of breaking a lease, but here's one that is.  Read on...

A few years ago my sister had a two bedroom apartment with an ex-best friend of ours when one day the ex-friend just upped and moved out of the apartment leaving my sister to flip the bill.  Because my sister was a student at the time and could not afford the rent by herself, she immediately went to her landlord for help.  The landlord didn't fault my sister for the broken lease and was nice enough to move her into a one bedroom apartment she could afford at no extra cost (i.e. transfer fees).  The landlord instead went after the ex-friend for breaking her end of the lease.  

If your lease is broken due to no fault of your own, chances are your landlord may only take action against the party that broke the lease.  However, if you decide to break your lease, that's a whole different story.  I'm not saying all landlords will necessarily take action against you, but I am saying be prepared just in case they do (i.e. back rent).  Some of my friends who have broken leases say it's no big deal.  According to them, the only problem you may ever face is when you go rent out another apartment.  The landlord may ask you to pay an extra month's rent for the security deposit or add a co-signer to the rental agreement due to your negative rental history.

Well that's it!  

Like I said, at the end of the day it will be solely up to you whether or not to add your roommate to your lease.  With that said, I wish you and your new roommate happy times ahead.  Remember, if you ever run into any problems where you want your roommate to move without being penalized for breaking the lease, go to your landlord for help!  

T. Bo