So, my boyfriend and I are seriously considering moving in together some time around December. I'm waiting to move out of residence until I finish my exams, and if we go with the place we're thinking of, he'll likely be able to move in at the start of the month. We're going to check the apartments out tomorrow afternoon. If we do go with one of these places, it will be renovated throughout the month of November. Timing wise, this works perfectly for us.

We've discussed all of the financial stuff we can think of, but I'm just wondering if there's anything major we're missing.

As far as rent goes, there's a big difference between our incomes, so we're basically paying our fair portions of rent based on what we each make. Essentially, he will be paying the same amount on rent as he does right now, and I'll be covering the difference (which is pretty small.)

We're pretty much doing the same with groceries and house-hold consumables (cleaning products and the like.)

Our own toiletries will be taken care of separately.

Any non-consumable house-hold items will be decided as we go along. We both realize that if we were to break up, we wouldn't want a bunch of items that we bought together that we now have to split. Whatever we buy on our own, will be ours if something happened.

As far as the lease goes, should we be signing the lease together? Or keep it separate? As I've never rented, I'm a bit lost on this one. I know my credit is good, so I'm not worried about that. But, should I get my name on the lease to improve my credit? Is that even how it works!? Colour me seriously confused

The place we're looking at is a two-bedroom apartment with a lot of space for just the two of us (over 1000 sq ft.) The spare bedroom will be an office for the both of us, so that we don't have to try and get work done around the TV or music. The master bedroom has a walk in closet (YES!) and the place has a lot of storage.

All-in-all I feel really good about this, but is there anything else major that I'm missing?

EDIT: I just thought I'd add something. While we've discussed a lot of this, none of this is set in stone. If we find that something isn't working, we're both open to trying something else out. Also, given that my job (serving) is largely dependant on tips, my boyfriend knows that some months won't be as good as others, and is open to helping me out when things are a little bit tighter.

Google "Financial advice for people moving in together" I just did this and there seems to be a ton of stuff on the subject there.

Jon

Most apartments now require everyone living in the apartment to sign the lease. You'll both have to clear the credit check.

If you can, you may want to start with a six month lease. Buying out a lease can be expensive and if something potentially goes wrong in the realtionship, you don't want to be stuck living together for too long. Ask the leasing office about all that and sublease rules, etc.

kk~

I've lived with my SO for nearly a year now and since he already owned his house, I pay his a certain amount each pay day and that's that. We use a cash budget, so on those pay days he takes out a certain amount of cash and we live off of that. Any extra items like clothes and toiletries etc. are just purchased separately. Until we buy a home together and our incomes are more equal (I'm a student and work part-time) this arrangment is working out pretty well.

I've been living with my SO for seven years now, and we still stick to the same rules as when we first moved in together.

* Each pay, we both put in equal amounts into a joint account for the mortgage and big household bills. Big things like getting a plumber in, or having a fence built comes out of the joint account.

* We alternate who pays for groceries. If I get paid this week, I pay for groceries; if he gets paid, he pays for groceries. Some fortnights my grocery bill is bigger than his; other times, his bill is bigger - it evens out in the long run.

* We divided up the utility bills between us: he pays for phone, internet and water; I pay for gas and electricity (and my mobile).

* We each pay our own fuel/transport costs.

After this, though, our money is our own. Save it, spend it, do what you want with it, as long as the bills get paid first. He's always earned more than me, so splitting all the household costs 50/50 means we're each contributing equally, and nobody is being taken advantage of.

Jim and I have lived in 4 different houses, and I think my name only showed up on a lease once, for the simple fact that I couldn't pay the rent if I wanted to. Like our current house - with the last job I had, it'd take me about 6 months of not spending a dime on anything else, to make up the rent for one month at our house. So in the event that Jim couldn't pay for it, they'd come to me, and I just flat don't have it. So that's why we leave my name off the lease.

In fairness though, we have really only rented from private renters. Our first apartment was rented from some management company, and they detested that I wasn't on the lease. They'd ignore my maintenence requests, if a package went to the office for me (if they couldn't deliver to your door, they'd take it to the office), they'd return to sender, it was obnoxious. At one point, they threated to call the police on me for squatting, or something stupid. And I know they didn't have much of a case (What did they want, for him to put everyone who entered that apartment on the lease?), but even still. After they whipped that one out, we got out of there pretty fast. :/

In Australia, every adult living in the house must be on the lease. So Elijah didn't have to be on the lease, but Hubby and I both did. So here's it's not even a question.

I think that's mostly everything covered. I can't think of anything that Hubby and I discussed prior to moving in together that you haven't already. Apart from cooking and cleaning arrangements that is.

Helen

In fairness though, we have really only rented from private renters. Our first apartment was rented from some management company, and they detested that I wasn't on the lease. They'd ignore my maintenence requests, if a package went to the office for me (if they couldn't deliver to your door, they'd take it to the office), they'd return to sender, it was obnoxious. At one point, they threated to call the police on me for squatting, or something stupid. And I know they didn't have much of a case (What did they want, for him to put everyone who entered that apartment on the lease?), but even still. After they whipped that one out, we got out of there pretty fast. :/

That's crazy.

The way I have it worked out right now is that I'm the lease-holder for my apartment. My boyfriend is on the lease as an occupant, but that's it.

Previously I had a room mate with horrible credit...but I was unemployed at the time, so between my good credit/unemployment and the room mate's income/horrid credit, we got a place.

They always ran a credit check on both people at every apartment I've lived in...but if one room mate had bad credit, it didn't ruin the whole deal. Granted, these were places that I could afford on my own if the room mate left, for the most part.

I've been living with my boyfriend for 3, coming on 4 months now. We kinda have a goofy arrangement because we kinda had a goofy relationship when he moved here. Here's what we do:

He pays rent. It was his idea to move here, he was moving here for us, so he pays it.

I pay for the internet. He pays for the cable.

He pays for the utilities.

We both pay for household goods and groceries...sometimes I'll go pick up some groceries, sometimes he does. There's no formality to it, it's rather random.

In return for him contributing the most monetarily, I contribute the most around the house. I do dishes and laundry and try to keep the place looking clean. He will help out sometimes, but I am usually the one doing it.

See, told you. Weird arrangement.

I am on the lease. He needed me to be, because his credit sucked, in order for him to get an apartment here. I originally wasn't going to be, because I wasn't quite ready for it. But I had to be, so that's that. Which is fine, the arrangement is working out wonderfully.

We also have the agreement that we will help each other out when necessary. He's a server, so his income is variable, so if he needs help, I will help. He helped me out this summer when I wasn't working as much. It definitely works for us.

I've lived with my boyfriend for about a year now. Since we earn roughly the same, we each contribute equally to rent and bills, which automatically goes into our joint account when we get paid. We take it in turns to buy groceries and cleaning stuff for the house which I think works out evenly, eventually! As for domestic jobs - he cooks, I clean (and deal with the financial.stuff - he is terrible with money!). He's a better cook then me and if I try to do it, he annoys me and always ends up taking over anyway. And if he did any cleaning, I'd have to round and redo it anyway, so I figure its easier that way.

We both have our names on the lease - I don't know if there was even any other option. We got a 2 year lease with a 12 month break clause, so if we wanted to move for any reason, we could have after a year.

It works out pretty well for us, anyway.

Theresa wrote:

In fairness though, we have really only rented from private renters. Our first apartment was rented from some management company, and they detested that I wasn't on the lease. They'd ignore my maintenence requests, if a package went to the office for me (if they couldn't deliver to your door, they'd take it to the office), they'd return to sender, it was obnoxious. At one point, they threated to call the police on me for squatting, or something stupid. And I know they didn't have much of a case (What did they want, for him to put everyone who entered that apartment on the lease?), but even still. After they whipped that one out, we got out of there pretty fast. :/

I think that's crazy as well :\

For me personally, neither my boyfriend nor I were able to go on the lease as applicant's. My father signed the lease for us (I think it's called being a guarantor?) because neither of us have the credit yet to get an apartment. I moved here for college, so my father would have been signing the lease anyways, and my boyfriend wanted to take a couple years off to work so it all worked out

For bills and rent, we've decided to keep it pretty much 50/50. Usually I pay the whole thing each month, since the bills are under my name, and then he pays me back his half.
Groceries we take turns, one week is mine and the next is his.

For chores, I do most of the chores like cooking and cleaning. My boyfriend works 5-6 days a week, gone for almost 12 hours a day, and I'm home for most of the evenings and have a 3day weekend, so I have no problem with it. His chore is doing the garbage

Thanks for all of the insight, guys!

We took a look at the apartment on Wednesday, and for the most part, we love it! There's a ton of space, a balcony that has an (almost) unobstructed view of downtown Calgary, and we're on the top floor with only one neighbour.

Turns out, I will be on the lease, which I'm OK with.

The only downside, is that the apartment is really outdated. They'll be doing renovations before we move in, if we're approved. However, we don't have any concrete proof of what exactly will be renovated. We know for sure that the carpet will be ripped up and replaced with laminate flooring, and the whole thing will be repainted. The kitchen cupboards will be painted (they're neon green and pink - wha?!), and the backsplash in the bathtub will also be redone with tile. There are a few other things that they aren't sure about, but we'd be much happier with them being redone, like the outdated oven and stove, and the bathtub which is pretty bad chipped in spots.

Do any of you know if there's any way to guarantee that certain things will be renovated? We're planning on sending an email with our concerns to the woman who was helping us, but I'm not sure if that actually means that any of that will actually be taken care of

I just signed a lease on a new apartment the 1st of this month... I told them flat out "If you do XYZ I'll rent the place, otherwise I'm going to keep looking" They liked that I had standards... Showed them that I'm probably not going to trash the place and turn it into a frat house. Simply tell them "Hey, I REALLY like the place, but I want to be comfortable in my home. Since you're doing work would you consider doing XYZ too? If not I think we'll keep looking"

They'll most likely jump at it

^Yep, that's pretty much the approach we're taking.

Oops! I forgot to mention, we'd sign a year long lease. It cuts down on the rent significantly.