As a tenant: contract for joint lease protection with roommate?

[Mike Andrews]

Hi all,

I'm looking to sign a lease with another person in a 2 bedroom apartment.  The landlord, however, insists on a joint lease instead of individual leases.

Does anyone have any well written contracts/documents that I could sign separately with the other roommate?

The goal would be three-fold:

1.  While we are both in the residence, a clause that states we each owe 50% of the rent, since if the other roommate stops paying, the landlord could essentially go after me.  I know the landlord's lease would still give him rights regardless, so i'm not sure how this would be worded to state that the roommate would owe me the balance in this scenario.

2.  I'd like some kind of clause that states we can give each other 6 weeks of notice that the other could move out earlier than the 1 year lease ends.  Something along the lines of... once one tenant moves out, the other roommate is responsible for filling the room and/or paying the difference in balance to the person that leaves.

3. Ideally could have some kind of clause that any damage done by a specific roommate should apply only to that roommate (for similar reasons to above).

Anyone have good examples of these, or indicate the legality of such documents?  I assume the joint lease we sign can always be enforced regardless so i'm not sure how to word something like this to protect myself.

I'm in Virginia if that matters at all.

[Patti Robertson]

I am in Virginia and wouldn't rent to you if I knew you had a contract amongst yourselves that either of you can bail with 6 weeks notice. Even if you did, the landlord would still hold you both 100% responsible unless they agreed to a lease modification.  My suggestion - be as picky as a landlord will be when selecting a roommate. Signing a contract with another person is a very big commitment. If you aren't sure you can commit for the lease term, save everyone some grief and rent a one bedroom apartment on your own instead.