Flatmate Agreement in Australia: What It Should Cover and What Happens to the Bond

A flatmate agreement is a short written agreement between people who share a rental. It records each person’s share of the rent, who paid what towards the bond, how the bills are split, the house rules, and what happens when someone wants to leave. It sits alongside your lease with the landlord and does not change it.

Claim Done drafts a flatmate agreement for a share house from your answers for a flat A$49, following the bond rules of your state or territory. Every flatmate reads it and signs it.

Why put it in writing

Consumer Protection WA’s guide to sharing a rental home says co-tenants need to agree on who pays what and how much each person owes, and that it is a good idea to write this down. It also says rental agreements often make each tenant responsible for the full rent, so if one person does not pay, the others have to cover it.

Consumer Affairs Victoria’s page on co-renting says a co-renter can be asked to pay other co-renters’ unpaid rent, or for damage they caused, even after moving out. A signed agreement does not change what you owe the landlord. It records what you have agreed to owe each other, while everyone still gets along.

Co-tenant, sub-tenant or lodger: which are you?

• Co-tenant. Your name is on the lease with the landlord, along with the others.
• Sub-tenant. You rent from a tenant (the head tenant), not the landlord. NSW Fair Trading’s page on sharing a rental property says the head tenant has the same legal responsibilities towards the sub-tenant as a landlord, and that a tenant must get the landlord’s written permission to sub-let.
• Boarder or lodger. Consumer Protection WA’s page on boarders and lodgers says you are more likely to be one if, for example, the landlord lives with you, provides meals or laundry, or sets and enforces house rules. Your rights depend on the contract with the landlord.

The Queensland source is the Residential Tenancies Authority’s page on boarders and lodgers. In Tasmania, check with Consumer, Building and Occupational Services. The Claim Done agreement is for flatmates who are all named on the lease, or about to sign one together. It is not a sub-letting agreement and not for an owner renting out a room.

What a flatmate agreement should cover

Consumer Protection WA says tenants should have their own written agreements covering rent payments, bill payments, notice to move out, cleaning and gardening, and maintenance. A practical list:

• Rent split. The total, each share, and who pays the agent and by when.
• Late payment. If one flatmate covers another’s share, when it is paid back.
• Bond contributions. The total and how much each person paid. In Victoria, how co-renters split the bond is a privately negotiated arrangement. In NSW, each tenant’s bond contribution needs to be recorded on the tenancy agreement.
• Bills. Whose name each account is in, the split, and how soon each person pays.
• Chores and shared costs. A cleaning roster, bins, the yard, any kitty.
• Guests. How many nights a guest or partner can stay.
• House rules. Smoking, pets, noise and parking.
• Notice to leave. How much written notice a flatmate gives the others.
• Replacing a flatmate. Whether the person leaving pays until a replacement moves in, and who pays back their bond share.

The structure of the agreement

This is how the Claim Done agreement is laid out. Clauses with nothing to say are left out.

1. Parties and background. Each flatmate’s name, the address and the lease.
2. This agreement and the lease. Between the flatmates only; the lease wins if the two differ.
3. Rent, bills and bond. Each share, each contribution, and how the bond is held and changed where you live.
4. Chores, guests and house rules.
5. Damage and cleaning. Who pays for damage they or their guest cause.
6. Moving out. Notice, rent until when, bills, keys and the bond share.
7. When the lease ends. The final clean, final bills and sharing the refund.
8. Disagreements and general terms.
9. Schedule 1. A table of each flatmate’s rent share and bond contribution.

What happens to the bond when someone leaves

Your agreement can say who pays back the person leaving, but the bond authority’s own process still applies, and it differs by state.

Further sources: the RTA on share homes, South Australia on sharing and subletting, the ACT’s tenancy information and the NT on share houses.

How to sign it and what to keep

• Every flatmate reads and signs the agreement and keeps a copy.
• Keep receipts. The NT page says to get written receipts for payments such as bond. In Queensland, anyone receiving a bond must give a receipt.
• Keep the bond reference number and a record of who paid what.

If you disagree later

Talk first, using the agreement as the record. Consumer Affairs Victoria says co-renters cannot apply to VCAT for this kind of dispute, but the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria may be able to help. Consumer Protection WA says the Magistrates Court can determine disputes between tenants. South Australia lists Community Mediation Services and the Legal Services Commission.

Mistakes to avoid

• Using a flatmate agreement when you are really sub-letting. The NSW, Victorian and WA pages say sub-letting needs the landlord’s permission.
• Letting someone move in without telling the landlord. In Queensland, the property manager or owner must give permission for everyone living at the property.
• Paying bond money to each other without updating the bond records.
• Writing “an equal share” instead of dollar figures.

Answer the questions and Claim Done drafts your flatmate agreement for a flat A$49, ready for every flatmate to sign.