How to Prepare an Office Sharing Agreement

What to cover in drafting an office sharing agreement with other businesspeople.

By Janelle Orsi , Attorney UC Berkeley School of Law

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  1. We agree that we will share the use of the office suite in order to save money and resources, and have the benefit of one another's knowledge, skills, experience, and company.
  2. We'll share the entire suite at 2525 College Avenue as described in this Agreement. All of us will share use of the common areas, Ben and Suzanne will each have their own private office space, Tamara and Marilyn will share a single office as described below, and Robyn will use the space more occasionally, all as described in paragraph 7, below.
  3. Only the people listed above are sharing the office space.
  4. None of us may sublease our individual space without the consent of each of the other people who are sharing the space.
  5. Our lease on the office suite begins on July 1, 20xx and has a term of three years. We each intend to stay for the entire term of the lease. If any one of us wants to leave, that person is responsible for rent until a replacement tenant is found, and will participate in the group's decision on the best way to look for a replacement sharer. We'll agree at that time on a process for advertising the space and choosing the new tenant, and the person leaving will take the lead on doing the necessary tasks to find the new tenant.
  6. Each of us is a lessor under the lease with our landlord, Janice Lubner, and we are jointly and severally responsible for the rent and any other expenses under the lease.
  7. All five of us will share use of the common areas, including the reception area, kitchen, conference room, and the room we're describing as the administrative space. Ben and Suzanne will each have a private office. Tamara and Marilyn will share the third office and they will work out their own schedule as to use. Robyn will use the conference room as meeting space and otherwise will work off-site. The administrative space will contain a desk for one staff person (discussed in paragraph 14, below), a fax machine that we will all share, a copier that we will all share, and a work table for common use.
  8. Tamara has leased the copier, which is also a fax machine, and we all agreed on the model and lease terms. Each of us will pay one-fifth of the cost of the lease by reimbursing Tamara quarterly in advance, on the first of July, October, January, and April. When we first take possession of the space, we'll all contribute in equal shares to the purchase of two cartons of copy paper, and for the first six months we'll keep track of copies made and fax pages received. At the end of six months we'll tally up, and if there's a significant discrepancy in use we'll adjust the cost of paper in a way that we all agree is fair; we'll also pay for toner in proportion to our use or as otherwise agreed.
  9. Each of us will have our own phone line(s) installed and will maintain our own voicemail.
  10. We'll all meet together on the first Monday of each month for lunch in the kitchen, to discuss any concerns we have about our sharing arrangement. We'll try our best to reach consensus on any issues that come up; if we can't, we'll use a majority vote.
  11. We agree to keep the common areas tidy and to keep our own supplies in our private offices. We'll cooperate to supply the kitchen with dishes and silverware by bringing our own extras from home, and we all agree to clean up after ourselves, including taking our old food out of the refrigerator at the end of each week. The landlord is providing cleaning service once a week.
  12. We've set up a Google calendar for scheduling the conference room and we agree to use it on a first-come, first-served basis. We agree that none of us will use the conference room for more than eight hours a week, or for any meeting longer than half a day, unless we clear it with the others first by sending out an email asking for agreement.
  13. The total rent on our suite is $2,600 per month. We agree to divide the rent as follows: