Can you sign it this way?
Renting a room to a friend: the agreement can be a link
Yes, a roommate agreement can be signed online, and the fact that it is a friend is the reason to do it. Nobody wants to hand a friend a stack of paper. A link they sign on their phone in two minutes is easy to ask for, and when the question in month eight is who pays the utility bill or how much notice a move-out takes, there is a copy both of you agreed to. Electronic signatures on contracts are recognized under the federal ESIGN Act and state UETA laws.
Roommate agreement or sublease: which one
If you both signed the lease with the landlord, a roommate agreement covers what the lease does not: who pays what, by when, shared costs, guests, quiet hours, chores, and what happens when one of you leaves early.
If you are on the lease and your friend is not, you are subletting, and a sublease agreement is the document. Most leases require the landlord's written consent to sublet, so read yours first and get that consent in writing too; the landlord can be a signer or a view-only recipient on the same document.
What to settle while everyone is still friendly
- The rent share and the due date, and who sends it to the landlord
- The deposit: who paid it, and how it comes back when one person leaves
- Utilities and internet: the split and whose name the account is in
- Notice to move out, and what happens to the share if someone leaves early
- The room, the shared spaces, and anything that is only one person's
Signing it
Send the agreement to your roommate by email or text. They open the link, agree to sign electronically, sign, and both of you get the certified copy with a time, a device, and a fingerprint of the document. Or sit at the kitchen table, tap Sign here now, and hand them your phone.
Common questions
- Does my roommate need an account?
- No. They sign from the link on their phone. Only the sender has an account.
- Can the landlord sign too?
- Yes. Add the landlord as a signer for consent to a sublease, or as a view-only recipient so they have a certified copy of the roommate agreement.
- Do we need a notary?
- A roommate agreement or sublease does not normally involve a notary. Notarization is a separate question set by state law for particular documents, and most everyday agreements do not need one.
- Is it free?
- Yes. One document or a hundred, no card.
General information, not legal advice. Laws change and their application depends on the specific facts. Consult a licensed attorney in your state about your own documents.
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