I was sitting at the same kitchen table where I found my father on a Sunday in 2023. The wood still has that one stubborn coffee ring he left behind, and sometimes I find myself tracing it while I stare at the stack of manila folders that has become my second career. It was early March when my brother came over, looking like he’d just tried to alphabetize the entire fiction section by the authors’ middle names. He was stressing over a new basement tenant. I realized then that while I couldn’t bring Dad back, I could certainly organize the chaos he left behind, starting with a proper contract for the house.
My brother’s house needed the extra income to cover the property taxes that seem to climb every year in Indianapolis. But neither of us wanted to pay a local attorney’s hourly rate—those quotes that make you feel like you’re buying a used car just to get twenty minutes of their time—for a simple roommate agreement. I’m a reference librarian. I spend my days helping people find the right call number for everything from crochet patterns to small business tax codes. I knew I could find a better way. Having used LawDepot for his contractor paperwork during the kitchen reno, I knew it was the right tool to handle a basement rental without the 'professional services' markup.
Why a Roommate Agreement Isn’t Just a Chore List
Most people think a roommate agreement is just a glorified way to decide who buys the toilet paper or whose turn it is to scrub the grout. That’s a mistake. When I sat down with my brother right before the summer heat started to settle over the suburbs, I told him that legal enforceability hinges on defining clear exit strategies and financial liability. If the tenant decides to move out in the middle of a blizzard, or if they stop paying their share of the heating bill, a list of who washes the dishes isn’t going to help you in small claims court.
LawDepot has been around since 2001, which is longer than some of the kids graduating college this year have been alive. They’ve had time to figure out the templates. I like that they don’t just give you a blank page. They give you a questionnaire that feels like a reference interview. You answer the questions, and the software builds the document around you. For my brother’s basement tenant, we needed something that recognized the specific reality of sharing a roof while maintaining separate lives.
The Questionnaire: Navigating the Indianapolis Winter and 51 Jurisdictions
One rainy Sunday afternoon, we pulled up the LawDepot site. The software covers 51 jurisdictions—all 50 states plus D.C. This is important because Indiana has its own quirks. For instance, we don’t recognize holographic wills (the handwritten kind you see in old movies), and while a roommate agreement doesn't have the same strict two-witness rule that an Indiana will does, you still want it to look like it was drafted by someone who knows where the courthouse is located. We selected Indiana, and the interview began.
We spent the afternoon toggling between tabs, deciding on guest policies and how to split the utility bills. In an Indianapolis winter, the heating bill can fluctuate wildly. I’ve seen enough people come to the circulation desk looking for help with utility assistance to know that 'splitting the bills' is a phrase that needs a math degree to define if you aren’t careful. We used the software to specify exactly which percentage of the gas and electric the basement tenant would cover, and how many days they had to pay up after the bill arrived.
The Mediator You Didn’t Know You Needed
We hit a wall when we got to the 'Quiet Hours' section. My brother hadn't actually discussed it with the potential tenant yet. He’s a 'we’ll figure it out' kind of guy, which is exactly how people end up in my library crying over eviction notices they don’t understand. The software acted as a mediator. It forced us to have the awkward conversations before the tenant even moved in. If you don't decide now that 11 PM is the cutoff for loud music, you can't complain when the bass is rattling the floorboards on a Tuesday night.
I’ve learned the hard way over the last three years that 'good intentions' don't hold up in a filing cabinet. You need the 'witness clause'—which, in librarian speak, is just two neighbors who can sign with you over coffee to prove you all saw each other sign the thing. While Indiana doesn't require a notary for a roommate agreement to be valid, having those signature lines ready makes the whole thing feel real. It moves it from a 'handshake deal' to a documented reality.
Printing and the 'Self-Proving' Peace of Mind
Last spring, after we finished the draft, I took the file to work. There’s a specific kind of peace that comes from a clean PDF. I printed the final draft on the library’s heavy bond paper, the 8.5 by 11 inches standard that fits perfectly into the manila folders I’ve been obsessively labeling since Dad passed. I remember the rhythmic thrum of the library’s industrial printer as the document slid into the tray, still warm to the touch. It felt like I was finally getting a handle on the paperwork monster that had been living in our house.
In the world of wills, we talk about a 'self-proving clause'—the page that saves your kids a court hearing because it proves the signatures are legit. A good roommate agreement is the same thing for your daily life. It’s the document that saves you from a headache later. I’ve spent three years rebuilding my widowed mother’s filing cabinet, and I’ve realized that the best gift you can give your family is a clear trail of paperwork. I wondered if my father would have laughed or been proud that I’ve become the family’s unofficial clerk of courts over a laptop and cold coffee.
The Exit Strategy: What Really Matters
If you take nothing else away from my trial-and-error at the kitchen table, remember this: the most important part of the LawDepot agreement is the termination clause. I’ve written about how to write a mutual lease termination agreement with LawDepot before, but it’s just as vital here. You need to know how to end the relationship before it even starts. What happens if the roommate loses their job? What if they get married and want to move their spouse in? You need to define the notice period—usually 30 days in Indiana—and what happens to the security deposit.
I’m not a lawyer, not a paralegal, and certainly not a pro in legal services. I’m just a librarian who got tired of high hourly quotes for things you can do at the kitchen table with the right software. If you have a complex situation—estates over $500,000, blended families with complicated inheritance issues, or a tenant who is also a business partner—please, go see an attorney. But for a brother renting out a basement to help pay the property taxes? LawDepot is more than enough to keep the peace.
Since we got that agreement signed, the basement tenant has been great. They know exactly when the rent is due, how much of the heat they owe, and that 11 PM means quiet time. My brother isn't stressed anymore, and I've got one more folder in the cabinet that's actually organized. It’s a small victory in a long three years of paperwork, but I’ll take it. If you're also dealing with family property, you might find my notes on how to file a quitclaim deed for family property transfers useful as well, as that was another hurdle I had to clear at the same kitchen table.
Just remember to check your margins before you hit print. I’ve rage-printed the same form three times before realizing the library's default settings were off, and no one needs that kind of frustration when they're just trying to be a responsible adult.