"Clause de Solidarité"
The legal structure in place makes renting to roommates an enticing arrangement for property owners. This is due to the solidarity clause which essentially transforms you and your roommates into a single entity in terms of legal responsibility for the full duration of the lease. The landlord is allowed to request the full amount of funds owed – not just the portion owed by the individual – from any tenant at any time. This leaves it to tenants to collect from their roommates, and means that if one roommate ceases payment the others remain responsible for his / her portion. This clause has critical implications from engaging a guarantor to extricating yourself from the flat-sharing contract.

What to Expect Before You Sign
Your landlord can demand the following from each incoming tenant.

1. Proof of economic solvency: Your landlord can ask for justification of income in the form of paystubs and/or your most recent tax return. However, he / she cannot demand authorization to withdraw funds directly from your bank account.
2. Caution: If you are a student or a young professional, your landlord has the right to ask you to provide a guarantor for your tenancy. Generally the tenant’s parents, guarantors must provide the same proof of economic solvency that a tenant would. With a solidarity clause, the landlord can ask any guarantor for the full amount of funds owed at any time (not just the portion owed by the tenant he/she has agreed to support). Guarantors remain engaged for the duration of the contract, even if the one roommate they vouched for has vacated the residence.
3. Deposit: Your landlord has the right to demand a deposit equal to no more than one month’s rent, to be returned within two months of the contract’s termination if the property is left in good repair. Importantly, landlords are not obligated to return portions of the deposit as tenants come and go, so tenants are left to sort this out amongst themselves.
4. Inspection Your landlord should do a thorough walkthrough of the property with all tenants present before the lease is signed. If you cannot come to an amicable agreement, you may ask to retain an unbiased third party as inspector. Your landlord should split this cost.
5. Insurance Each tenant is required to obtain renter’s insurance before entering the lease. Your landlord will probably ask that all tenants use the same insurance company.

Write a Roommate Contract
With a solidarity clause binding you and your roommates in responsibility, it is critical to sign a written agreement that outlines how rent, taxes, charges and communal expenses will be divided, to establish rules for common spaces and hosting guests, and to discuss how to replace tenants.

How to Extricate Yourself From a Multiple Tenant Lease
A solidarity clause makes it difficult to remove yourself from the obligations of a multiple tenant lease, but it is possible. First, you are required to give your landlord a minimum of three months notice before you leave. Second, it is your responsibility to find a replacement tenant should you choose to vacate the residence before the contract is terminated. Any potential replacement must be approved by both your remaining housemates and the property owner. That being said, a landlord is in no way obligated to accept a new tenant and can refuse on any condition, in which case you remain legally bound to the terms of your contract until it expires.

Subletting your room without telling your landlord might seem appealing, but consequences for doing so should be heavily weighed. Subletting is almost always explicitly banned in rental agreements, and engaging in it puts you and all of your roommates at serious risk for eviction. Further, you have absolutely no legal recourse if the person who sublets your room stops paying or refuses to vacate the residence.