How to Write a Roommate Agreement in Canada

Who can be pursued for the rent

On a joint lease, liability is usually joint and several: the landlord need not work out whose share is missing and can pursue whichever tenant is easiest to collect from, or bring an arrears application against all of them together.

The roommate agreement does not change what the landlord can do. It gives the person who covered the shortfall a written claim against the person who caused it.

When only one name is on the lease

That person is responsible to the landlord for everything, and the status of the others depends on the arrangement. Where an occupant shares a kitchen or bathroom with the owner, the Residential Tenancies Act does not apply to them in Ontario. Where the person they share with is a tenant rather than the owner, the position is less settled and the Board may treat the occupant as the head tenant's tenant, with the notice and hearing rights that follow.

The practical consequence is that nobody should assume an occupant can simply be told to leave. Take advice before acting, and never change the locks: removal requires an order and enforcement by the sheriff.

1. 1.Record each roommate's rent share and an internal payment day before the landlord's due date.
2. 2.Note who contributed to the deposit the landlord holds, and how it comes back.
3. 3.Set out utilities: whose name, how split, when reimbursed.
4. 4.Agree guests, quiet hours, cleaning, smoking, cannabis and pets.
5. 5.Use a notice period that matches provincial tenancy rules — 60 days in Ontario for a monthly tenancy.
6. 6.Sign, keep it with the lease, and record any change in writing.

Ontario specifics worth knowing

A landlord may collect a rent deposit of no more than one rent period, applied to the last month's rent, and damage deposits are not permitted (Residential Tenancies Act, ss.105-106). If more than a month is being held, that is worth questioning before roommates split it.

A tenant ending a monthly tenancy gives 60 days' notice ending on the last day of a rental period. A roommate agreement requiring only 30 days leaves the others carrying a share nobody can cover, so matching the two avoids a gap. And ending obligations to the landlord requires notice to the landlord in the required form — telling your roommates is not notice.

What to write down

Shares and the internal payment day; who collects and pays, if anyone; the deposit; utilities; bedrooms and shared space; guests, quiet hours and cleaning; notice to leave and who finds the replacement.

Quebec sits outside this document: the Civil Code and the Tribunal administratif du logement apply, with a mandatory lease form and different rules on deposits.