Roommates, Conflicts, & Working Towards Resolutions

A roommate is a person who shares an apartment (or sometimes a room) with you. Signing a lease with someone you don’t know can be risky. Choose your roommate carefully and be honest about who you are. If you’re looking for a quiet spot, avoid roommates who want to party regularly. When more than one tenant signs a lease, they are all responsible for the lease. You should have a written roommate agreement, useful in case of disputes. It is important to know what you are, and where your rights are under the tenancy act.

It’s important to have conversations around expectations before moving in with your roommate — especially if you don’t know them ahead of time. Often, students will meet with potential roommates on a video call or in person over coffee to discuss expectations and personal preferences. Having these first meetings helps you know if you are a good fit to live with the other person, or if you should continue looking for other roommates.

Once you move in with others, it will be important to ensure you are having open communication about chores, hygiene, study times, and other topics. Open communication is a great tool to help prevent conflict. It is also recommended that you complete a roommate agreement with your roommates. This agreement can guide interactions, purchasing of shared items, communication, and all other items.

One common issue between roommates is hygiene and chores. As part of the roommate agreement, discuss chores and shared space cleanliness. A tool many will use is a chore chart. This chart outlines which spaces are communally cleaned, when, and by who. It helps ensure the cleaning tasks are distributed evenly between all roommates.

Despite our best efforts to avoid conflict, it is normal to have disagreements. You should prepare for when disagreements arise by having detailed conversations during the roommate agreement about how you would like to manage conflicts in your home. Often, regular house meetings will also help prevent conflicts and provide a designated time to discuss any concerns you have. When discussing your concerns, ensure you are following the communication tips provided in the Roommate Agreement, such as using “I feel…” statements and centering the conversation on the impacts of the issue.