COLLEGE ROOMMATES 101Written by dan the roommate man
"Don't expect to be best friends with your roommate, just settle for not killing each other...""You would not believe how weird my roommate is..." "My roommate from hell did it again..." Yes, I heard all roommate stories before I started college. The majority of them were about how awful roommates were and how it was impossible to get along. I had a major case of roommate phobia before I started college and I was convinced that I would get a psychopath for a roommate and everything would go downhill from there. To my surprise, my roommate and I became best friends and we decided to live together again this year. I know it is definitely rare that my roommate and I ended up best friends, but truth is, everyone can learn to get along with their roommates. It doesn't require that two of you become best friends, or even friends at all. You just need to practice common courtesy. Here are a few helpful tips and guidelines: Dan's Roommate Survival Guide 1. The first thing you and your roommate should do is to sit down and write a living contract together. List rules for room that both of you agree to follow. For example, quiet hours, telephone calls, borrowing each other's things, having friends sleep over, etc. Writing contract together ensures that both of you understand what is agreed upon. Also, when one of you breaks one of rules, there is written proof that contract was violated, as opposed to two of you arguing day in and day out about what rules were in first place. 2. After contract is written, try your best to follow it. When you break one of rules, apologize and acknowledge that you broke a rule. Don't pretend it didn't happen or hope that your roommate didn't notice. They probably did, and they will get upset with you if you pretend it didn't happen. Also, when your roommate breaks one of rules, be forgiving, especially if you've broken a few rules yourself. Don't hold grudges and keep tabs of when your roommate broke rules and bring it up every time two of you have a fight. This is extremely annoying and your roommate will end up doing same. Then two of you will have hour-long fights as both of you bring up everything that other person did wrong since beginning.
| | MAKING THE RENT PAYMENTS WITH YOUR ROOMMATESWritten by Dan the roommate man
Once you have decided to move into an apartment with one or more roommates, you will need to determine how your rental payments will be handled. There are three ways you can set up lease and determine how rent will be paid:a) All roommates sign lease, and all are then "Jointly and Severally Liable" for rent and damages b) One person basically becomes "landlord" of apartment by renting one or several rooms of apartment to other people through what is called "subletting." c) You and your roommates create your own contract. Subletting is complicated, but it is a great way to have legal backup in event that you have irresponsible roommates. For example, Joe, Frank and Bill move in together, and they all sign a basic lease (making each party "Jointly and Severally Liable." Joe and Frank are responsible roommates, and have their payments ready on first of month, but Bill is broke. Frank and Joe, then, must come up with Bill's rent money since they are all on same lease together. If they only submit their portion of rent, landlord can legally evict all three tenants - even though Bill is only tenant at fault. However, if Joe, Frank and Bill had been subletting apartment - Joe is sublessor, Frank and Bill are sublessees, Bill could have been held legally responsible. In this situation, Joe would basically be landlord of their apartment. He would be responsible for all landlord duties - one of which is collecting rent from his sublessees (Frank and Bill) and turning it in to landlord of complex. If, as a sublessee, Bill failed to pay his rent, Joe could evict him from apartment, or take rent out of his security deposit, and Joe and Frank would be free to stay in apartment without being punished for Bill's unpaid rent. Some complexes do not allow subletting. If this is case in your complex, it is be wise to protect yourself and your roommates by designing a written contract that spells out your obligations to each other, such as what portion of rent each will pay, responsibility for damages, division of payment for utilities, duration of rental period, responsibility for finding a replacement upon early termination, and payment of rent until a replacement is found.- which may be better in long run because in subletting, one person must take on more responsibility as landlord and this could cause battles for power in household.
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