Room rental agreement, 14 Ellis Street, Brunswick

Room rental agreement template for one room in a shared home

Renting a room is not the same as renting a house, and most templates copy a residential lease and hope. This one is written for one room with shared kitchen and bathroom, prices the bills split, lists the rules that matter, and says plainly that the occupant is a boarder or lodger and what that changes.

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Room rental agreement

14 Ellis Street, Brunswick

Between Marta Kowalski, owner, and Dev Anand, occupant, for room 2 with shared facilities

Private arrangement, no agent involved
Commencing 1 October 2026
Room rental agreement · 14 Ellis Street, Brunswick VIC 3056Page 2 of 5
Room rental agreement · 14 Ellis Street, Brunswick VIC 3056Page 3 of 5
Room rental agreement · 14 Ellis Street, Brunswick VIC 3056Page 4 of 5
Room rental agreement · 14 Ellis Street, Brunswick VIC 3056Page 5 of 5
Parties and premises

This agreement is made on 21 September 2026 between Marta Kowalski of 14 Ellis Street, Brunswick VIC 3056, called the Owner, who owns and lives in the home, and Dev Anand, called the Occupant. The Owner rents to the Occupant room 2, the bedroom at the front, with shared use of the kitchen, bathroom, laundry, living room and back yard. One other resident, Lena Ferro, lives in the home under her own arrangement with the Owner.

1. Term
1.1
A periodic arrangement
The agreement starts on 1 October 2026 and continues week to week until it is ended under clause 9. There is no fixed term.
2. Rent
Item
Amount
When
Room 2, with shared facilities
$240 per week
Fortnightly in advance, by bank transfer
First payment
$480
On signing, covering the first fortnight
3. Bond
3.1
Two weeks, held by the owner
The Occupant pays a bond of $480 on signing. The Owner holds it and returns it within 7 days of the Occupant vacating, less any deductions both parties agree for damage beyond fair wear, unpaid rent or unpaid bill shares, itemised in writing.
This bond is not lodged with the RTBA
In Victoria a bond taken from a boarder or lodger is not lodged with the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority the way a tenant’s bond is. It stays with the Owner, which is why this clause fixes the return period, and the Occupant should keep the transfer receipt.
4. Bills
Bill
Split
How paid
Electricity
Three ways
Owner pays, collects shares in 14 days
Gas
Three ways
Owner pays, collects shares in 14 days
Internet
Three ways
Owner pays, collects shares in 14 days
Water usage
Owner pays
Included in the rent

Worked example: last quarter’s electricity bill was $312, so the Occupant’s share was $104. The Owner shows the bill itself, not a summary, whenever a share is collected.

5. Shared areas and cleaning
Week
Kitchen
Bathroom
Bins
Week 1
Marta
Dev
Lena
Week 2
Lena
Marta
Dev
Week 3
Dev
Lena
Marta
6. House rules

6.1 Guests. A guest may stay up to three nights in any week; more needs the Owner’s agreement, and a guest never gets a key.
6.2 Quiet hours. Quiet after 10 pm on weeknights.
6.3 Smoking. No smoking or vaping inside; the back yard is fine.
6.4 Pets. No pets without the Owner’s written agreement first.
6.5 No subletting. The room is for the Occupant alone and must not be sublet, shared or passed to anyone else.
6.6 Parking. One car in the driveway’s second space; visitors park on the street.
6.7 Keys. Two keys are provided and must not be copied; lost keys are replaced at cost.
6.8 Damage. Damage to the room or shared areas is reported to the Owner within a day, whoever caused it.

7. Access to the room

Room 2 is the Occupant’s private space. The Owner enters it only with a day’s notice, at a reasonable time, or immediately in an emergency such as fire, flood or a genuine concern for safety.

8. Insurance

The Owner insures the building and the Owner’s own contents. That policy does not cover the Occupant’s belongings.

The occupant’s things are not covered
A laptop stolen from the room is not claimable on the Owner’s policy. Contents cover for a single room is inexpensive, and the Occupant is encouraged to hold it.
9. Ending the agreement
9.1
Notice
Either party may end this agreement with two weeks written notice, for any reason. Notice by message is fine as long as it states the last day.
9.2
Ending it immediately
The Owner may end the agreement immediately for violence, threats to anyone in the household, or serious deliberate damage. The Occupant may leave immediately in the same circumstances.
9.3
Moving out
On the last day the Occupant removes their belongings, leaves the room as found allowing for fair wear, returns both keys, and pays any outstanding bill shares. The bond is then returned under clause 3.1.
10. What this agreement is

The Occupant rents a room and shares the kitchen and bathroom with the Owner, who lives in the home. Because of that, the tenant provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act do not apply to this arrangement in Victoria, and the rooming house rules do not apply to a home with fewer than four rooms let. This is a contract between the parties, enforceable as one, and both sides have read it rather than assumed it is something it is not.

The Occupant rents a room and shares the kitchen and bathroom with the Owner, who lives in the home. Because of that, the tenant provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act do not apply to this arrangement in Victoria, and the rooming house rules do not apply to a home with fewer than four rooms let. This is a contract between the parties, enforceable as one, and both sides have read it rather than assumed it is something it is not.

The Occupant rents a room and shares the kitchen and bathroom with the Owner, who lives in the home. Because of that, the tenant provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act do not apply to this arrangement in Victoria, and the rooming house rules do not apply to a home with fewer than four rooms let. This is a contract between the parties, enforceable as one, and both sides have read it rather than assumed it is something it is not.

Signed as an agreement. Each party keeps a copy, and each signature is witnessed by an adult who is not a party.

Owner, Marta Kowalski
Name
:
Date
:
Witness for the owner
Name
:
Date
:
Occupant, Dev Anand
Name
:
Date
:
Witness for the occupant
Name
:
Date
:

Section by section

What each section is for, so you can keep the ones you need and drop the rest.

Contract cover
The address, the two names and the start date.
Parties and premises
Owner, occupant, room 2, the five shared areas and the third resident.
Term
Periodic from 1 October 2026, week to week until ended under clause 9.
Rent
$240 a week, fortnightly in advance, first payment $480 on signing.
Bond
$480 held by the owner, returned within 7 days, with the RTBA callout.
Bills
Electricity, gas and internet split three ways, with the $312 to $104 worked example.
Cleaning roster
Three names rotating through kitchen, bathroom and bins over three weeks.
House rules
Eight numbered rules, 6.1 to 6.8, guests to keys to damage.
Access and insurance
Entry on a day's notice, and a callout that the owner's policy does not cover the occupant.
Ending and signing
Two weeks notice, the move out steps, clause 10, and witnessed signatures.

Clauses in this document

What a room rental agreement is, and why it is not a lease

Every state prescribes a standard form for a residential tenancy, which is why this site has no lease template: you must use the official one. But when an owner rents out a spare room and keeps living in the home, most states treat the occupant as a boarder or lodger, and the tenancy legislation, its bond scheme and its notice periods do not apply. The arrangement is governed by the contract the parties sign, which makes that contract matter more. This document covers what the legislation would otherwise cover: how much, held by whom, returned when, who enters the room on what notice, and how either side ends it.

How to adapt this document

For a head tenant adding a housemate, the head tenant takes the owner's role, the landlord's written consent is noted in the parties paragraph, and the bills split matches the resident count. For a granny flat with its own entrance and no shared facilities, stop: that is usually a residential tenancy, and the prescribed form applies instead. For a student homestay, add meals to the rent table, name a guardian as a party if the student is under 18, and shorten the notice to one week each way. In every version, keep the worked example in the bills clause and the plain clause about what the agreement is.

What makes this document work

The bills clause has a worked example

Clause 4 does not stop at a three way split. It shows last quarter's electricity bill of $312 becoming a $104 share, and requires the owner to show the bill itself whenever a share is collected. That sentence stops the first argument every share house has.

Clause 10 says what the document is

One plain paragraph states that the occupant shares facilities with an owner who lives there, so the tenant provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act do not apply in Victoria. That is the honest version of the 'this is not a lease' line other templates bury in fine print, and both sides sign under it.

The roster is a table with three names

Clause 5 rotates Marta, Dev and Lena through kitchen, bathroom and bins across a three week cycle, in a table anyone can photograph for the fridge. A promise to share the cleaning is not a term; a roster with names is, and it survives the first busy fortnight.

Questions people ask

Is a room rental agreement legally binding?

Yes, as a contract between owner and occupant, enforceable like any other. What it usually is not is a residential tenancy: in most states an occupant who shares the kitchen and bathroom with a resident owner is a boarder or lodger outside the tenancy legislation, which is what clause 10 says out loud.

Do you need a bond for a room?

No law requires one, but two weeks of rent is the common figure, $480 here. A boarder's bond in Victoria is not lodged with the RTBA, so the agreement does the protective work: a 7 day return period, only agreed deductions, and every deduction itemised in writing.

How much notice do you need to leave a share house?

Whatever the agreement says, two weeks in this one, from either side and for any reason. A tenancy would demand longer periods and prescribed forms, but a boarder arrangement is governed by its contract, so notice is written plainly and may be given by message as long as it names the last day.

Who pays for the internet?

Whatever the bills table says, and the point is that it is a table. Here electricity, gas and internet are split three ways and collected within 14 days of the bill, while water stays with the owner inside the rent. A split that lives in a table never needs renegotiating.

Can the owner enter the room?

Under clause 7, only with a day's notice at a reasonable time, or immediately in a genuine emergency. A boarder does not get a tenant's statutory privacy protections, so privacy has to be a written term, which is why the agreement treats room 2 as the occupant's private space.

What happens if the occupant stops paying?

The owner ends the agreement under the notice clause, two weeks here, and recovers unpaid rent and bill shares from the bond with written itemisation. A boarder sits outside the tenancy acts, so there is no bond authority process to wait on; if the occupant refuses to leave, get advice.

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