7 Important Questions to Ask Your Potential Roommate

Choosing a roommate isn’t just about splitting the rent. It’s about sharing your space, habits, and everyday life.

You’ll be living with your roommate side by side, so it helps to know what you’re getting into.

As such, after using the right roommate finder website or app to search for a compatible person to live with, take the time to talk to your shortlisted potential co-tenant. When you ask the right questions, you can be sure your lifestyles and expectations line up, especially when it comes to cleanliness, noise, and visitors.

With an informal or formal interview, you can set the stage for a pleasant living experience with your roommate.

What to Ask When Choosing a Roommate

Here are seven questions to ask anyone interested in renting a room from you:

1. What do you do for a living?

You may be embarrassed to ask a person you barely know what their job is, but this is an important detail to know about your potential roommate.

When you know what someone does for a living, you’ll know whether they are financially stable and can pay the monthly rent on time. You can also get an idea of their daily schedule.

With these details, you can decide if their schedule will work or clash with yours, which can affect your lifestyle and daily activities.

2. Do you work from home?

A good follow-up question to ask is whether the potential tenant works from home. If they do, you’ll have another important consideration.

If you also work from home, you may not want the additional company, especially if you’re used to being alone. You also have to deal with higher energy bills.

If you’re not a remote worker, having a roommate who works from home gives you the assurance that there’s someone who can accept deliveries and let the handyman in if you need to have something repaired.

Consider the advantages and disadvantages of having a roomie who works from home to make the right decision.

3. What’s your daily routine like?

After knowing what your potential roommate’s job is, ask about their routine. Find out what time they usually wake up and go to work.

Talk about your daily routine, and mention that you might want a roomie whose schedule won’t affect yours, especially during weekday mornings when you need to go to work.

You may even want a roommate whose daily routine is the opposite of yours, so you can have more alone time in your apartment.

Also, ask about how they spend their free time. This gives you the opportunity to see whether you’ll be comfortable or uncomfortable with their hobbies or with what they do in the evenings.

4. What do you usually do on weekends?

Knowing what your potential roommate does on the weekend gives you an idea about their lifestyle beyond work. It helps you imagine what living with them might actually feel like.

Ask them if they love hosting parties or gatherings, or if they prefer quiet downtime during the weekends. By doing so, you’ll get a sense of their social habits and what kind of energy they bring into the space.

There’s no right or wrong answer, but their answers can reveal how your routines might blend or clash.

5. How important is cleanliness to you?

This is an important question to ask people who want to rent a room in New York and other cities, as no one wants a messy roommate who doesn't help with cleaning.

Inquire about their cleaning habits. Find out how often they clean their bedrooms, bathrooms, and common spaces. Ask what chores they like doing and which ones they don’t.

Discuss your cleaning habits and pet peeves with them, too. You can talk about splitting tasks and creating a cleaning schedule to keep your apartment tidy.

You can also start talking about the possibility of paying for a weekly or bi-weekly professional cleaning service to keep your tiptop condition.

6. Do you have any vices?

If you have asthma or other respiratory disease or are breaking an unhealthy habit, you need to ask the potential sub-lessee if they smoke or vape.

You need to turn down individuals who have these habits, as cigarette smoke may aggravate your health condition, and vaping may just make you feel uncomfortable, even if they do this on the balcony (if you have one) or in their room with an open window.

If you have no problems with these habits, make sure your potential roommate knows the areas where they are allowed to smoke or vape.

Ask about your potential sub-lessee’s drinking habits as well. This can help you understand how their lifestyle and social activities align with yours and set expectations for gatherings they can host in your home.

7. How do you feel about sharing?

Asking how someone feels about sharing can help you understand their comfort level with common spaces and belongings. Everyone has different boundaries, and this question brings them to light before problems start.

Find out if they want to share chores, split groceries, or keep things separate. Talk about communal fixtures and equipment, since you both need space in the kitchen and bathroom cabinets, as well as in the fridge.

Talking about it early shows respect for each other’s space and avoids awkward moments later. You’ll also learn a lot about how your potential roommate communicates and compromises.

Choosing a roommate is a big decision, but it doesn’t have to be a gamble. Ask, listen, and be upfront about your own habits.

When both sides know what to expect, it’s easier to build a living situation that actually works for both of you.