If you're the one signing the lease, you're on the hook for the full rent if your roommate fails to pay. After determining from your landlord you can do this, collect first and last months rent and security deposit. Draw up a contract... you can probably find some generic ones online. You can do a background check if you're that concerned, but that will cost money. At the very least look them up on Facebook and see what they and their friends are really like (like, if he/she glorifies drugs). Request references and call them. Here's some tips on what to ask... http://en.allexperts.com/q/Dealing-Roommates-2039/questions-ask-calling-references.htm

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. - Carl Sagan

Last Edited By: Askeptic1 Aug 18 11 1:52 PM. Edited 1 times.