Living with roommates or a partner: chores, costs and agreements
A written household agreement with chores divided and costs split by a method everyone chose, guests and quiet hours settled, and a review date.
- Start here: the essentials
- 1. Why write it down, and what the agreement covers
- 2. Splitting costs: three methods as arithmetic
- 3. Dividing chores by time
- 4. Raising a problem, and when someone leaves
- 5. A household of one
- 6. See it: Priya, Sam and Theo split a house
- 7. Practice: the household meeting
- 8. Your home
- 9. Check your work
- 10. Knowledge check and scenario
Start here Essentials
In a shared home, the minimum is one short meeting that ends with a written agreement everyone has a copy of. If you live alone, do only the last step. Everything marked Go deeper can wait.
- List the costs you share and run the split calculator with two methods. Compare the figures side by side (three methods).
- Agree on one method and write it on the agreement sheet with the date. Then give every chore from your routine an owner or a rotation (chores by time).
- Settle guests, quiet hours and shared food in a sentence each, and set a review date four weeks out (what the agreement covers).
- Living alone: write the landlord's regular and emergency contacts, one building or neighbor contact, and who holds a spare key on the home facts sheet (a household of one).
Minimum time: about 45 minutes for a shared home; about 15 minutes alone. Done when: the agreement has the split method, the chore owners, the guest and quiet-hours lines and a review date, and everyone has a copy; or, living alone, the home facts sheet has those contacts and the spare key's holder.
1. Why write it down, and what the agreement covers Understand
A household agreement is a short written record of how the people in a home share money, space and work. It is also called a roommate agreement or a housemate agreement. University housing offices and extension services publish templates for it, and they give the same reason: people who settle these questions before or soon after move-in have something to point to when memories differ. The University of Minnesota Extension's renter course says a written, signed agreement can help settle disputes, and it advises agreeing before move-in.
We suggest holding the meeting in the first week Convention, because the first bills and the first dirty dishes arrive in the first week. The phased plan puts it at day 7 for a shared household (phased plan). A couple can use the same meeting. Partners often assume they already agree about money and chores; writing it down is how they find out.
What the agreement is not
The agreement is the household's own document. The university templates say plainly that it is not a legal contract. Arizona State University's template states that it does not change the tenants' responsibility to the landlord under the lease, and Winthrop University's says it is not legally binding. A joint lease is one lease that every tenant signs. What each signer owes the landlord under it is set by the lease and by state law, not by anything the roommates write among themselves. If the lease says the rent is $2,400, the landlord expects $2,400, however the household divides it.
That is also why the agreement names who sends the rent to the landlord and by what day. The University of Minnesota's guide lists making sure the rent reaches the manager on time as one of the money topics to settle.
The topics
The templates we read (Arizona State, Winthrop, Keene State and Cal Poly Pomona) overlap heavily. The table merges their topics with the University of Minnesota's list. Each line on the agreement sheet matches one row. One or two sentences per topic is enough; a topic that does not apply gets "does not apply," so the next reader knows it was considered.
| Topic | The questions to answer in writing | Essential on a first pass? |
|---|---|---|
| Rent | The split method and each person's amount; who pays the landlord, how and by what day; what happens if someone cannot pay on time | Yes |
| Utilities | Whose name each account is in (Utilities and accounts); how each bill is split; when the household looks at the bills together (Arizona State's template says monthly) | Yes |
| Shared supplies | What counts as shared (dish soap, toilet paper, trash bags); who buys; how it is paid back; the shared purchases ledger | Yes |
| Food | Shared or separate; whose shelf is whose; who may throw out expired food (Cal Poly Pomona's template asks this) | Yes |
| Chores | The list, the owners or the rotation, and the standard of "done" | Yes |
| Guests and overnight guests | Notice before a guest stays; how many nights in a row or a month; spaces that are off limits | Yes |
| Quiet hours | Weekday and weekend hours; lights and headphones while someone sleeps | Yes |
| Personal and shared things | What is shared; borrowing only with a yes; who owns what was bought together | Can wait |
| Keys and locking up | Who has a key; locking the door; who may have a copy; emergency contacts | Can wait |
| Parties | Notice, size, end time, cleanup | Can wait |
| Pets | Whether the lease allows them; whose pet; care, costs and damage | Can wait, unless there is a pet |
| Raising a problem | How and where the household talks it over (section 4) | Can wait |
| Moving out | Notice to the others; keep paying or find a replacement; the deposit and shared items | Can wait |
"Essential on a first pass" is our ordering, not the templates'. Convention The essential rows are the ones that cost money or cause friction in the first month. The rest can wait for the four-week review.
Different standards of clean
Two people can both say "the kitchen is clean" and mean different things. One means the dishes are washed; the other means the counters are wiped, the stovetop is clean and the sink is empty. Write down what "done" means for each shared chore, in a phrase: "kitchen reset: dishes washed and put away, counters and stovetop wiped, sink empty." The point is a shared definition the household can check, not a contest over whose standard is right. Preference
The four templates compared
The templates differ in length and in what they assume about the household.
- Arizona State's housemate agreement is short and practical: a utilities table with the provider, whose account and how each is divided, a monthly bill review, guests, parking, weekday and weekend quiet hours, and housekeeping. It is the one that states the agreement does not change joint responsibility under the lease.
- Winthrop's template is the fullest, in eight sections: money (including a plan if someone cannot pay), the deposit, cleaning, guests and quiet hours, personal and shared property, communication and conflict (with a line about talking it over before involving the landlord), safety and move-out.
- Keene State's sample carries two tools the others lack: a single ledger of household supplies (item, cost, date) and a utilities table with the account holder, the deposit and how the bill is shared. Its move-out line is the one we quote: keep paying or find a replacement.
- Cal Poly Pomona's agreement is written for residence halls, so its quiet hours are the campus's. It is useful for the questions the others skip: fridge space, who may throw out expired food, room temperature, and lights while one person sleeps. It also sets out a five-step conflict ladder.
None of the four is written for a couple. A couple can use the same topics and skip what does not apply (parking, perhaps, or off-limits rooms).
- Arizona State University, Housemate Agreement (PDF): a short template for off-campus housemates.
- Winthrop University, Comprehensive Roommate Agreement Template (PDF): the fullest topic list.
- Keene State College, sample roommate agreement (Word document): a supplies ledger and a utilities table.
- Cal Poly Pomona University Housing, Roommate Agreement (PDF): fridge sharing, sleep and a conflict ladder.
2. Splitting costs: three methods as arithmetic
A household can divide rent or a bill many ways. We show three, as arithmetic. Each rests on an assumption about what the money pays for, and the household decides which assumption it shares. The split calculator runs all three from the same inputs, so the figures can sit side by side before anyone argues for one.
The three methods are arithmetic. We do not say which split is fair, and no method on this page is recommended. The household chooses, writes the choice down with the date, and can change it at a review. The agreement does not change who owes the landlord what under the lease. A dispute about money owed or about the lease goes to the landlord, a mediator, legal aid or small-claims court, not to this manual.
Equal shares
An equal split divides the total by the number of people. Rent of $2,400 among three is $800 each. It assumes each person gets about the same from the home: similar rooms, similar use of the shared space. It is the simplest to check, and it is the usual starting point for utilities, where use is hard to measure person by person.
Weighted by room
A weighted split (also called an area-weighted split) treats the rent as paying for two things: the shared space, which everyone uses equally, and each person's private space, which differs. It works in three moves:
- Choose the common share. The common share is the part of the total that pays for shared space (kitchen, living room, hallways, a shared bath). It is split equally. The calculator starts at 50 percent. That figure is this manual's own default, not a sourced figure; no agency or template we read gives one. The household sets its own.
- Give each private space a weight. Start with each bedroom's floor area in square feet (length times width, measured inside the walls). Add an extra weight, as a percentage, for anything private the others do not get: a private bath, a parking space, a balcony. The calculator accepts 0 to 25 percent per person. That range is the calculator's limit, not a guide.
- Split the rest by weight. The remaining share is divided in proportion to each weight. Each person pays their part of the common share plus their part of the remaining share.
The formula, for one person: their payment = (total × common share ÷ number of people) + (total × (1 − common share) × their weight ÷ the sum of all weights). The calculator does this and checks that the payments add back to the total.
The weighted split assumes square feet and private extras are what makes one person's share worth more than another's. It leaves out light, noise, closet space and which room faces the street. A household that cares about those can adjust the extra weight, and should write down why.
Proportional to income
An income-proportional split divides the total in the same proportions as what each person earns. Each person's share = total × their income ÷ the sum of everyone's incomes. With invented numbers: rent of $1,500, one partner earning $3,000 a month and the other $2,000, the shares are 60 and 40 percent, $900 and $600.
It assumes the household treats some of its money as shared, which is more common for couples than for roommates. It asks each person to say what they earn, and the household also has to agree on which figure: before or after taxes, with or without irregular income. Write that choice down too. The calculator keeps the incomes you type in this browser; the setup form does not ask for one.
| Method | The arithmetic | What it assumes | What the household has to decide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equal | Total ÷ number of people | Everyone gets about the same from the home | Nothing beyond the total |
| Weighted by room | Common share split equally; the rest by bedroom area plus extra weights | Private space is what differs between people | The common share; each extra weight; how rooms are measured |
| Proportional to income | Total × each income ÷ sum of incomes | Money is partly shared, by agreement | Which income figure; how often it is updated |
Bills, supplies and food
The household can split rent one way and bills another. A household can, for example, split rent by room and utilities equally, on the view that a bedroom's size says little about who runs the dryer. Whatever the choice, the bill goes to the account holder, and the others pay that person back by a date written in the agreement. Utilities and accounts covers whose name each account is in (utilities and accounts).
Shared supplies go on the shared purchases ledger: date, item, cost, who paid, who it is split among, and whether it is settled. Keene State's sample uses a single supplies ledger for the same reason: small purchases add up, and a list ends the "I think I bought the last three" conversation. Food is separate in many shared homes and shared in many couples'; if it is shared, Learn Meal Planning's chapter on shopping covers planning a shared list (Learn Meal Planning, Shopping, a sibling manual).
A couple merging two households of things
A couple moving in together often arrives with two of everything and none of some things. Before buying, list both sets of kitchen equipment, furniture and linens on the essentials list with "have" in the source column and a note saying whose. Then decide, item by item: keep one, keep both, sell or donate one. The sort in Limited space (keep, sell, donate, toss) applies (limited space).
Write down who owns what. Things bought together before the move, things one partner brought, and things bought together after the move are three different categories if the couple ever separates. The agreement's "personal and shared things" line can say, for example, "furniture each of us brought stays that person's; things bought together from September on are shared and divided by agreement if one of us moves out." That is the couple's own understanding, not a legal statement of who owns what.
3. Dividing chores by time
Dividing chores by count ("you take three, I take three") hides the fact that a weekly bathroom clean and taking out the recycling are not the same job. Dividing by time is a check on that. The list comes from Weekly routines: each task on the routine sheet already has a frequency and minutes (weekly routines).
- List the shared chores. Only the shared ones: each person's own room and laundry stay off the list unless the household chooses otherwise.
- Give each chore its minutes and how often it happens a week. Daily is 7 times; every two weeks is half a time. The minutes are the household's honest estimate; time one or two to check.
- Total the weekly minutes. The chore time calculator multiplies and adds, and divides by the number of people for an even share.
- Assign the chores. Either fixed owners (Sam does the trash every week) or a chore rotation, where chores move between people on a set schedule. The chore rotation sheet has columns for four weeks.
- Check each person's minutes over the four weeks. A rotation that looks even by name can be uneven by minutes. Add each person's minutes for the four weeks and compare them with the even share.
Fixed owners suit a household where people have chores they prefer or are better at. A rotation suits a household where nobody wants to own the bathroom. Both work if the minutes come out close to what the household agreed. "Close" is the household's word: a person who works longer hours, or who keeps a private bath, may agree to carry fewer shared minutes. Preference
What the national figures say, and what they do not
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Use Survey measures how people spend an average day. In 2025, women 15 and over averaged 2.38 hours a day on household activities and men 1.58 hours. For housework alone, the figures were 0.81 and 0.30 hours. These are population averages for everyone 15 and over, whatever their household. They do not describe any particular couple or household, and they are not a target. A couple can use them as context for a conversation about their own list, which is the only list the agreement covers.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Use Survey, Table 1 (2025): average hours per day by activity, for men and women.
4. Raising a problem, and when someone leaves
Every shared household has problems; the agreement's job is to give them somewhere to go. The University of Minnesota Extension's guide to getting along with roommates gives four habits for raising one:
- Pick the issue. Choose what matters enough to raise, and raise one thing at a time.
- Cool down first. Talk when nobody is angry, not in the moment the dishes are discovered.
- Avoid blame. Describe what happened and its effect, not the other person's character.
- Use "I" statements. "I can't cook when the sink is full" rather than "you left the dishes again."
Write the agreed fix on the agreement sheet with the date. A fix that lives only in a conversation is a fix nobody can check.
A ladder of steps
Cal Poly Pomona's residence-hall agreement sets out a ladder for conflicts: talk with your roommate, ask the resident advisor's advice, be open to mediation, keep the advisor informed, and then go to the area coordinator. A household outside a residence hall has no resident advisor, but the shape holds. The table is our adaptation for a shared rental. Convention
| Step | What it looks like | When to move up |
|---|---|---|
| Talk | One person raises one issue, using the four habits above | The same issue comes back after an agreed fix |
| Household meeting | Everyone, with the agreement open; the change written down with the date | The household cannot agree |
| Mediation | A neutral person helps the household reach its own agreement. Some communities have mediation programs; a legal aid office or the city can say whether yours does | The issue involves the lease, money owed, or someone's safety |
| The landlord, legal aid or small-claims court | Questions about the lease, the deposit or money one person says another owes | This is outside the household and outside this manual |
Mediation is a meeting where a neutral third person helps the people in a dispute reach their own agreement; the mediator does not decide for them. Winthrop's template adds a line worth copying: the household talks a problem over before anyone involves the landlord.
Safety in a relationship or a household is outside this manual. If you are afraid of someone you live with, call 911 in an emergency. The CFPB's tenant-rights page notes that federal law may protect survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking from eviction or denial of housing; a local legal aid office or domestic violence program can say what applies where you live.
When someone leaves
A roommate who moves out, or a couple who separates, raises the same questions. Each is a question to answer in writing, among the household and with the landlord, not one this manual answers:
- The lease. Who is on it, and what does the landlord require when one signer leaves? Ask the landlord in writing. Keene State's sample puts the household's side simply: the person leaving keeps paying or finds a replacement. Whether the landlord accepts a replacement is the landlord's decision under the lease.
- The accounts. Which utility accounts are in the leaving person's name? Each one needs a transfer or a new account before they close it (utilities and accounts).
- The deposit. A deposit is held under the lease, not under the household agreement. Ask the landlord in writing how they handle it when one signer leaves; how the roommates settle each person's share between them is their own agreement.
- Shared items and the ledger. Settle the open lines on the shared purchases ledger, and decide who keeps the things bought together.
- Keys. Collect the leaving person's keys and fobs, and update the keys sheet.
A roommate who moves out mid-lease, worked through
Under these invented assumptions: a three-person joint lease with eight months left, rent split by room, and one roommate with a job offer in another city. The household meets with the agreement open and writes answers to five questions.
- Notice. When did the leaving roommate tell the others, and does the agreement's move-out line set a notice period? If it says 30 days, that is the household's own term.
- Rent until a replacement. Does the leaving roommate keep paying their share until someone takes the room? That was the agreement's line; if it was blank, this is the first thing to agree.
- The landlord. A written request to the landlord: who is leaving, whether a named replacement can sign, and what the landlord needs (an application, a lease amendment). The answer, in writing, goes in the binder.
- The money between them. The ledger's open lines settled; a written note of how the leaving person's share of the deposit is handled, which is between the roommates until the lease ends.
- The new agreement. The replacement reads and signs a fresh copy of the agreement, with the split recalculated for their room.
Where the household and the landlord disagree about the lease, or the roommates disagree about money, the questions go to legal aid or to small-claims court. Your state's attorney general or housing agency publishes a tenant guide that says which applies.
Choosing or being chosen as a roommate
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's tenant-rights page lists the classes federal fair housing law protects: race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status (including pregnancy and families with children) and disability. We give this as information for a reader choosing a roommate or applying for a room. Whether and how those rules apply to a shared home is a legal question we do not answer; legal aid or your state's fair housing agency can.
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Your tenant and debt collection rights: where tenant rights come from, the protected classes, and protections for survivors.
5. A household of one
Living alone, there is nobody to split costs or chores with, so the agreement sheet can stay blank. What a household of one needs instead is a short list of people: who to call about the home, who is nearby, and who can get in if you are locked out or away. These go on the home facts sheet and the keys sheet.
| What to write down | Where it comes from | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| The landlord's or manager's regular contact and how repair requests are sent | The lease and the move-in packet (Lease and move-in record) | Home facts sheet |
| The emergency line for after hours | The lease, the packet or the manager's office; ask in writing if it is missing | Home facts sheet, and your phone |
| A building contact: superintendent, front desk or maintenance | The packet or a notice in the lobby | Home facts sheet |
| One neighbor's name and number, if you choose to share yours | An introduction in the first weeks | Home facts sheet notes |
| Quiet hours and guest rules in the lease or building rules | The lease and building rules (Lease and move-in record) | Home facts sheet, building rules line |
| A trusted person who holds a spare key, or at least the landlord's number | Your decision; check whether the lease allows copying keys | Keys sheet, "who has one" |
Guest and quiet-hours rules still apply to a household of one; they come from the lease and the building instead of from roommates. A lease may limit how long a guest can stay before they count as an occupant. Read the lease's guest clause, and if it is unclear, ask the landlord in writing. That answer goes on the lease answers sheet.
A spare key with a trusted person is a convenience and a backup, not a requirement. Preference Some leases say who may copy keys and how. If the lease is silent, ask before making one. A person who would rather not hand out a key can give the trusted person the landlord's emergency number instead, so someone can ask the landlord to check on the home.
A household of one with a frequent overnight guest
A partner who stays several nights a week sits between a guest and a roommate. Three questions settle where the household stands. First, what does the lease say about guests and occupants, in its own words? Copy the clause to the lease answers sheet. Second, does the guest use utilities, food and supplies enough that the two of you want to share some costs? If so, an informal split (an equal share of groceries, say) can go on the agreement sheet like any other household's. Third, does the guest have a key? If so, add them to the keys sheet. If the guest is moving in for real, the landlord decides whether they join the lease; ask in writing.
6. See it: Priya, Sam and Theo split a house See it
Priya Raman, Sam Kowalski and Theo Mensah are one of this manual's fictional cases. They rent a three-bedroom house, built in 1994, on one joint lease, and moved in on September 1, 2026. Names, dates, sizes and amounts are invented for the arithmetic; they are not prices to expect.
Known. Rent is $2,400 a month. The bedrooms are 150, 110 and 100 square feet. Priya's bedroom has its own half bath; Sam and Theo share the full bath. Electricity, gas, water and sewer, and internet are the tenants'. In Utilities and accounts they put each utility account in one person's name and wrote it on the accounts sheet: electricity Priya, gas Sam, internet Theo, water and sewer Priya.
Assumed. Two numbers in the weighted split are their choices, not facts about the house. The 50 percent common share is the calculator's starting value, which they kept. The 10 percent extra weight for Priya's half bath is the figure they agreed on. A different household could choose differently, and the figures below hold only under these assumptions.
The two methods, side by side.
| Person | Bedroom | Weight | Equal split | Common share part | Room part | Weighted split |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Priya | 150 sq ft, half bath | 150 × 1.10 = 165 | $800 | $400 | $1,200 × 165 ÷ 375 = $528 | $928 |
| Sam | 110 sq ft | 110 | $800 | $400 | $1,200 × 110 ÷ 375 = $352 | $752 |
| Theo | 100 sq ft | 100 | $800 | $400 | $1,200 × 100 ÷ 375 = $320 | $720 |
| Total | 375 | $2,400 | $1,200 | $1,200 | $2,400 |
The common share is 50 percent of $2,400, which is $1,200, split equally at $400 each. The other $1,200 is divided by the weights 165, 110 and 100, which sum to 375. Each column adds back to $2,400.
The choice. They chose the weighted split and wrote it on the agreement sheet at their first household meeting, on September 8, with the method, the 50 percent common share, the 10 percent weight, each amount, and the line "Priya sends the rent through the portal by the 1st; Sam and Theo pay her by the 28th." This manual does not say whether that split is fair; the three of them decided.
The chores. Their chore rotation has three shared chores. The kitchen reset after dinner takes about 15 minutes a day, or 105 minutes a week. The shared full bath takes about 30 minutes a week, and rotates between Sam and Theo, since Priya cleans her own half bath. Trash and recycling to the curb take about 10 minutes a week. That is 145 minutes a week, 580 over four weeks, or about 193 minutes each if split evenly.
| Chore | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen reset (105 min a week) | Priya | Sam | Theo | Priya |
| Shared full bath (30 min) | Sam | Theo | Sam | Theo |
| Trash and recycling (10 min) | Theo | Priya | Priya | Sam |
Added up over the four weeks, Priya carries 230 minutes, Sam 175 and Theo 175. The rotation looks even by name; by minutes, Priya has the kitchen twice. Her half bath is not on the shared list.
Open, and who settles it. Whether the 230, 175 and 175 split is acceptable, or the rotation changes: the three of them, at the agreement review on day 35 (October 6). How each utility bill is split: written on the agreement sheet at the same meeting, from the bills on the accounts sheet. The house's CO alarms are a separate open fact from First night and safety, in their written request to the landlord.
Free sources behind this chapter:
- University of Minnesota Extension, The 3 Cs of Getting Along with Roommates (PDF, RentWise renter course): topics to settle before move-in, and how to raise a problem.
- Arizona State University, Housemate Agreement (PDF): utilities, guests, quiet hours and housekeeping, and the line about joint responsibility under the lease.
- Cal Poly Pomona University Housing, Roommate Agreement (PDF): the conflict ladder and fridge sharing.
7. Practice: the household meeting Practice
Minimum: in a shared home, one meeting that fills the agreement's rent, utilities, supplies, food, chores, guests and quiet-hours lines, with a review date, and a copy for everyone. Living alone, the household-of-one list on the home facts and keys sheets. Time: about 45 minutes together, plus 10 minutes beforehand to gather numbers; about 15 minutes alone. Materials: the lease, the latest bills or the accounts sheet, each bedroom's measurements (a tape measure), the routine sheet, the split calculator, and the agreement sheet or paper.
- Before the meeting, gather the numbers. The rent, each shared bill or an estimate, each bedroom's length and width, and any private extras (a bath, a parking space).
- Run the calculator with two methods. Equal and weighted is the usual pair for roommates; equal and income for a couple who wants to compare. Put the figures where everyone can see them.
- Choose and write. Write the method, its settings (common share, extra weights, which income figure), each amount, who pays the landlord, and the date.
- Divide the chores. Bring the shared chores from the routine sheet to the chore rotation sheet with their minutes. Assign owners or a rotation, then add each person's minutes over four weeks.
- Write one sentence each for guests, quiet hours and food. Then the review date, four weeks out, on the agreement sheet and on the phased plan.
- Print or share a copy. Everyone gets the same version. The household binder prints the agreement with the other sheets (household binder).
- Start the shared purchases ledger with anything already bought for the household, and settle it at the review.
- Fill the remaining lines (personal and shared things, keys, parties, pets, raising a problem, moving out) at the four-week review, once the household has lived together long enough to know what needs saying.
8. Your home Your home
9. Check your work Check your work
Criteria
- Does the agreement name the split method, its settings and each person's amount, and add back to the total?
- Does it say who pays the landlord, how and by what day, and when the others pay that person?
- Does each utility have an account holder and a split?
- Does every shared chore have an owner or a place in the rotation, and do you know each person's minutes over four weeks?
- Are guests, quiet hours and food each settled in a sentence?
- Is there a review date on the agreement and the phased plan, and does everyone have the same copy?
- Living alone: are the landlord's regular and emergency contacts, a building or neighbor contact and the spare key's holder written down?
Worked example
Priya, Sam and Theo's agreement (fictional) names the weighted split with a 50 percent common share and a 10 percent weight for Priya's half bath, gives $928, $752 and $720, which add to $2,400, and says who pays the landlord and by when. The chore rotation has every shared chore and the four-week minutes (230, 175, 175). Guests, quiet hours and food each have a line. The review is on October 6. It meets the criteria. The utility split is the one line still to write, and they set it for the review.
Common mistakes
- Agreeing out loud and writing nothing. A month later, three people remember three agreements.
- Running one method only. The second method's figures are what make the choice a choice.
- Splitting rent and forgetting who sends it to the landlord. The lease expects the whole rent on time.
- Counting chores instead of minutes. A rotation can be even by name and uneven by time.
- Treating the agreement as a contract that changes the lease. It does not; the lease and state law still set what each signer owes the landlord.
- Living alone and skipping the chapter. The household-of-one list is the step that applies.
What is still unresolved
This chapter does not say which split is fair; the household decides. It does not say what the lease or state law makes each tenant responsible for; the lease, the landlord and your state's tenant guide or legal aid do. Whether the chore minutes feel right is settled at the four-week review, and the 30-day and 90-day reviews in Your household binder check the agreement again (your household binder).