do you share an apartment with someone you do not know before?

[andylawcc]

I just moved in with another person in 2 bedroom apartment. that guy is responsible for paying rent to the landlord and I pay him my share at the end of the month. I also paid him one month of deposit and we agreed to a 6months contract . Now, everything is basically a verbal agreement --- so he has no guarantee of me keeping with the 6 months contract, and vice versa I don't have any guarantee of him running away with my deposit.

can we just put these details down on a piece of paper, sign it, and consider it a "legal contract"?

 

[vi edit]

If you are serious about it, I'd at the *least* pay a couple bucks and have a notary of the public sign and stamp it.

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
If you are serious about it, I'd at the *least* pay a couple bucks and have a notary of the public sign and stamp it.

Notary of Public? how does that work?

well, that guy seems trustworthy (of course, i could be fooled) and he never asked me to sign a contract or anything I describe above, I am just curious to see how would you guys would handle it.

 

[shopbruin]

we did but we also had our names put on the lease. they only accepted one check per apt for the rent, so we paid one of the roommates who wrote the check for the rent.

a notary is someone who verifies your identity before you sign documents. they will stamp it, etc. there is a small fee associated with it.

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: freesia39
we did but we also had our names put on the lease. they only accepted one check per apt for the rent, so we paid one of the roommates who wrote the check for the rent.

yeah, my friend had his lease "done" that way. he share an apartment with his friends so things are a bit easier.

happy birthday anyways

 

[vi edit]

With the notary you and the roomie to be go to the notary office, you sign it, he signs it, the notary signs it and stamps it with a seal.

It's basically a third party confirmation that this contract is withstanding. It's nothing *super* legal binding, but it's more than just having a piece of paper with two signatures on it that could easily have been faked.

Most notaries will do it for a couple bucks...$5-$20 tops.