[Ohiogirl]

The landlord can provide (by turning in their id's for that property) resident renter's id's for up to 2 people, so I believe that if you were the original renter with an id, and then got a roommate, the landlord could add that person to the id list, but check with the renter/id office, which is in Spanish Springs in the back of the sales office there. Don't know the phone #.

I would think that this practice would be more and more common (non-relatives/partners sharing a home) just because it is a cost savings. We keep reading about the baby-boomer generation having to delay retirement because of various reasons.

If you do sign an original rental agreement by yourself, with the intention of finding a roommate, be sure to get that permission in your lease. Personally, I think I would do a tryout period of 30 days, with lots of emails first, and checking the person out as much as possible online. Become Facebook friends if they are doing that. It's not foolproof, but go with your gut feeling.

Somewhere online there have to be questionaires available that might help with roommate compatibility. Being upfront with definite "deal-breakers" might help. I would think that it might even be better if one were a "morning person" and one a "night owl" if both were respectful of noise - that would give you some alone time that might be a plus.

That's just my 2 cents - I've never had a roommate, except for 1 yr in college, that wasn't a sibling or a spouse. But honestly, though I'm close to my sisters, I think it would be easier to live with someone else.