Who is a roommate?

A roommate might be either a joint tenant or a subtenant, depending upon the terms of the lease or rental agreement. When all the roommates are listed on the lease, each one can be responsible for the full amount of the rent due to the landlord (although it is possible that a special lease could be negotiated whereby each roommate is responsible only for his/her “portion” of the rent). Where the roommate is not named and has not signed the lease, the roommate pays his/her portion of the rent to the named tenant, who has signed the lease, and the tenant is responsible for the full amount of the rent to the landlord.