Living with a roommate is the ultimate life hack for renters. Not only will you save money by splitting rent and other living expenses, but you’ll also have someone to keep you company when at home. However, finding and living with a roommate isn’t always easy, and if you aren’t careful, your roommate experience can easily turn sour.
In this article, we’ll help you navigate the ins and outs of renting an apartment with a roommate by answering the following questions:
- How do you find a roommate?
- What ground rules should be set before moving in with a roommate?
- What are effective ways to search for an apartment with a roommate?
- How do I apply for an apartment with a roommate?
How Do Roommates Work?
Although renting with roommates can be a good way to save money, it’s important to understand how sharing an apartment works, logistically. Typically, roommates share one rental, sign a joint lease, and are responsible for their own space, like their bedroom and bathroom. Responsibilities that are usually shared by roommates are the monthly rent payments, utilities, groceries, and household chores in shared spaces, like the living room or kitchen.
Apartments.com found that sharing an apartment is a popular way renters stretch their budget. A survey conducted in January 2026 found that the highest preferred shared apartment setup is a two-bedroom apartment with one roommate, suggesting that renters are leaning on roommates to save on monthly rent.
How Do You Find a Roommate?
Finding a roommate who is compatible with your lifestyle and living habits can be challenging. Even if you consider yourself to be low-maintenance and easygoing, there's still a chance that you and your potential roommate may not see eye to eye on certain things.
Below are some tips for vetting potential living candidates and locking in your perfect roommate match.
Where can you find a roommate?
Finding a roommate can be just as difficult as vetting a potential roommate. If you find yourself running out of people to interview, consider people already close to you. Think friends, coworkers, classmates, family, friends, and friends of friends. If these options don’t produce a good candidate, consider checking different social media spaces or roommate finder websites. There are plenty of outlets to express your interest and find a roommate that works with you and your lifestyle.
Determine your compatibility
It doesn’t matter if you’re a neat freak or a bit on the messier side. All that matters is that your roommate-to-be is on the same page as you. Before agreeing to live with someone, make sure you talk through habits that tend to cause friction, like:
- Cleanliness and chores
- Sleep and work schedules
- Guests and social life
- Noise and shared spaces
Discussing these lifestyle factors upfront will reveal whether you’d make a good roommate match and help you avoid any potential conflicts down the road.
Conduct interviews
Interviewing a potential roommate may sound intimidating, but it’s crucial for the vetting process. This interview can be as formal or as informal as you’d like. Whether it’s over dinner or just a casual phone call, interviewing in any form will give you a sense of a person’s personality and lifestyle.
Make sure to ask questions about their daily routines, work schedules, and hobbies. Doing so will help you determine if they’re a good match for your living situation.
Check references and background
Checking a candidate’s references and conducting a background check will help you determine whether they are a good fit for you. Though your landlord or property manager will check this when you eventually sign a lease, it’s always good to do your own research beforehand. Before you conduct your search, ask your future roomie if you can reach out to their previous landlords or roommates to get a sense of their character and living habits. In doing so, you respect your roommates’ personal boundaries.
Setting Ground Rules Before Move-In
Regardless of whether you’re living with your best friend or a complete stranger, it’s always important to establish some ground rules with one another. Whether it be setting quiet hours in the apartment or splitting rent and utilities in a specific way, setting expectations before move-in will ensure you are both on the same page.
Setting a budget
Budgeting is a huge part of renting with a roommate and splitting living expenses. Here are some ways you may decide to split the monthly expenses:
- Split everything evenly
- Split rent by bedroom size or features
- Divide responsibilities. For example, one roommate handles groceries and the other handles utilities.
There’s no right or wrong answer on how to divide expenses, but it’s essential to establish this before moving in together. Otherwise, you might find yourself with a roommate who pays late or not at all, causing tension and strain in the living situation.
Establishing household etiquette
Household etiquette is another huge component of apartment ground rules. This could include things like taking turns doing dishes, cleaning common areas, and respecting each other’s personal space. It could also pertain to rules for having guests over or turning off the television after a certain hour. Setting these boundaries before moving in will help establish etiquette expectations and limit misunderstandings.
Keeping open communication
Being a good roommate coincides with being a good communicator. If you can’t be open and honest with your roommate, issues or misunderstandings are more likely to arise. Try to have regular check-ins with your roommate to address issues like finance and household responsibilities. In doing so, remember to be respectful and empathetic to your roommate.
Do you need a roommate agreement?
Before moving into an apartment, both roommates will sign a lease agreement, which outlines monthly rent and resident expectations as it pertains to the apartment community. A roommate agreement is a document that sets responsibilities and guidelines for roommates. This document usually includes information explaining how expenses are to be divided, shared and personal space rules, cleaning responsibilities, visitors, and course of action if one roommate gets evicted. A roommate agreement can be helpful to clearly outline boundaries and set expectations before living under one roof with someone else.
Navigating an Apartment Search with a Roommate
Your rental journey doesn’t end once you find a roommate. Your next step will be grabbing your roomie and searching for apartments. Before doing so, make sure to set expectations with your roommate when it comes to non-negotiables, lease lengths, etc. This will help streamline the search process and ensure you're both on the same page when finding your dream apartment.
Leasing options to explore
Renting with a roommate comes with several leasing options to consider. Here are two of the most popular leasing options among renters, at a glance.
|
|
Joint Lease |
Individual Lease |
|
How it works |
All roommates sign one lease. |
Each roommate signs a lease for their bedroom. |
|
Who’s responsible? |
Every tenant is responsible for rent, late payments, and damage, regardless of whose fault it was. |
Each tenant is responsible for their own bedroom and bathroom. |
|
Availability |
More common, tends to be more affordable. |
Common in student housing communities, less common in traditional rentals. |
|
Best for |
Roommates who are comfortable sharing financial responsibility. |
Renters who want less financial overlap with their roommates. |
Determining your must-haves
Before starting your search, you and your roommate should compare apartment must-haves. Maybe you’re a pet owner who needs pet-friendly amenities, or perhaps you’re a student renter looking for communal study spaces. Whatever your preferences, make sure you discuss your wants with your roommate.
Using online resources
Finding an apartment with a roommate is all about utilizing your resources – specifically, online platforms like Apartments.com. With our comprehensive suite of Renter Tools, you can easily filter your search for things like price, location, pet policies, and more. You can also save and share listings with your roommate to get their input and make the process easier. Plus, with our personalized search alerts, you and your roommate can be the first to know when a new apartment that fits your criteria becomes available.
Applying for an Apartment Together
After you and your roomie have settled on an apartment, your next step will be to fill out an application. Though this may seem daunting, applying for an apartment can be very straightforward with the right tools and resources.
To aid your application process, check out these tips for applying for an apartment with a roommate:
Gathering essential documents
Before you apply for an apartment, you should gather the various documents you’ll need, such as:
- Proof of income
- Rental history
- Employment history
- Photo ID
If one of these documents is missing, it could delay the application process or cause your application to be denied altogether.
Review the lease terms together
Once you’ve been approved for an apartment, you and your roommate should sit down and thoroughly review your lease terms. From rental rates and lease lengths to pet policies and maintenance expectations, review every detail and make sure you both understand the agreement. This will prevent any potential miscommunications between you and your roommate, as well as with your landlord or property manager.
Handling rejections
Despite all of your preparation, there’s a chance you and your roommate’s application could be rejected. Rejections happen for various reasons, and it doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t find another great apartment. Just make sure to ask your potential landlord or property manager what the reason was for the rejection so you can address any issues before applying again. Then, you can discuss how to rectify your application with your roommate to increase your chances of being approved in the future.
Find a Roommate-Friendly Rental on Apartments.com
If you are looking for an apartment with a roommate, start your search on Apartments.com! On Apartments.com, you can search for available apartments by floor plan and price, making it easy to find a rental that fits you and your roommates’ needs.
After you find a potential apartment, you can dive into more specific apartment community information, like fees and policies, amenities, nearby transportation, and points of interest. Finding an apartment that works for multiple people is easy using Apartments.com
This article was originally published on July 15, 2020, by Jamie Kenan and has been updated.
FAQs
Can you rent a house with roommates?
Yes, you can rent a house with roommates. It works similarly to an apartment as you will still have to sign a lease, split rent, and set ground rules, but houses can add extra tidying jobs, like yard work or trash pickup.
You can search for homes on Apartments.com by navigating to the Apartments.com search page, inputting the city you want to search in, selecting the "Home Type" filter, then choosing which home type you want to search by, like "Houses" or "Townhomes."
Can a couple rent an apartment together?
Yes, couples can rent an apartment together. Couples can apply for an apartment together as co-tenants and are still required to sign a lease and provide application information.
Do all roommates have to be on the lease?
Typically, yes. Landlords usually require every adult living in a unit to apply and sign a lease. Adding a roommate to your home without letting your landlord know can violate your lease and cause heavy fines or eviction.
How do you split rent when bedrooms are different sizes?
Many roommates split rent by bedroom sizes. The roommate who has the bigger space usually pays a bit more than the roommate who has less. Before you sign a lease, make sure to discuss how much each person will be paying monthly to ensure both parties are on the same page.
