What does "responsabilità solidale" mean for roommates?
Responsabilità solidale is the Italian version of joint and several liability. When several people owe the same thing to the same person, each of them can be made to pay all of it. The Codice Civile, Article 1292, puts it plainly: an obligation is joint when several debtors are all bound to the same performance, "so that each can be compelled to perform it in full."
On a shared lease (contratto di locazione), the "performance" is the rent. You and your flatmates are all conduttori (tenants), the owner is the locatore (landlord), and the rent is one single debt, not a bundle of separate room prices. Your informal agreement to split it by room size, or evenly, is a deal among yourselves. The landlord is not part of it.
The key detail is the default. Under Article 1294 of the Codice Civile, co-debtors are jointly liable unless the law or the contract says otherwise. If your lease is silent on the point, solidarity applies automatically.
Can the landlord chase me even if I always paid my share?
📷 Mikhail Nilov / Pexels
Yes, and this is the part that surprises most Erasmus students. According to the consumer-legal explainer on Dequo.it, which applies Articles 1292 and 1294 of the Codice Civile to leases with several tenants, the landlord "can come to you for the other person's share even if you've paid regularly."
Picture a common scenario. Your roommate goes home at the end of the semester, stops transferring money, and stops answering messages. You have paid your part on time every month. On a joint lease, none of that protects you: from the landlord's point of view the rent is simply unpaid, and you are a named tenant who is still reachable, probably still living in the flat, and much easier to find than someone who has left the country.
The landlord is also free to choose. They do not have to chase the person who stopped paying first, and they do not have to split the claim evenly. They can go straight to whoever is most likely to pay, which is usually the reliable one.
How fast can one missed payment turn into eviction?
📷 Markus Spiske / Pexels
Faster than people expect. Under Legge 392/1978, Article 5 (the old "equo canone" law, still in force on this point), failing to pay rent once 20 days have passed after the due date is grounds to terminate the lease. That is the doorway to a sfratto per morosità, an eviction for arrears. It does not take months of missed rent.
And the eviction concerns the lease, not one person. If the contract is joint, the whole household is exposed, including the tenants who paid.
There is an escape hatch. According to Legge 392/1978, Article 55, once an eviction case for arrears has started, a judge can grant a grace period (termine di grazia) of no more than 90 days to pay everything owed, including rent, charges, interest and costs, where hardship is proven. The same law limits this to residential leases and to no more than three times in four years. It is a last resort, not a plan: by then legal costs are already part of the bill.
Can I get the money back from my roommate?
In principle, yes. It is called the right of recourse (azione di regresso, often loosely called rivalsa). According to Codice Civile, Article 1299, a joint debtor who has paid the whole debt can reclaim from each co-debtor "only that person's share."
Two consequences follow. First, your claim is against your roommate, never against the landlord. Once you have paid, the landlord's side is settled, and recovering the money becomes your private problem. Second, according to the same article, if one co-debtor cannot pay, that loss is split among the co-tenants who can. So if three of you share a flat and one disappears, the two who remain may end up absorbing the missing share between them.
In practice, recovery from someone who has moved abroad is slow, uncertain and often not worth the cost of trying. Keep every bank transfer receipt, every rent-split message and every written admission ("sorry, I'll pay you back next month"). If you ever need to prove what was owed, that paper trail is your case.
Which lease setup protects you before you sign?
The joint default can be switched off, but only on paper, before trouble starts. According to the practitioner explainer on Servizio Telematico, there are three common ways to structure a shared flat:
- One joint lease. Solidarity applies, unless the contract expressly excludes it so that each tenant answers only for their own rent share.
- One main tenant who sublets. The leaseholder carries the risk toward the landlord; the others deal with the leaseholder.
- Separate individual contracts. Each person owes only their own rent.
For a room-seeker, an individual contract is the cleanest option; otherwise, ask for a written clause excluding responsabilità solidale. Whether it's a contratto transitorio (temporary-use lease) or the landlord uses cedolare secca (a flat-tax regime) doesn't change this: the wording does.
Also check registration. According to the Agenzia delle Entrate, the lease must be registered within 30 days of signing, or of its start date if earlier, and either party can file it. It puts your name and codice fiscale (Italian tax code) on record, and non-EU students often need a registered lease for permesso di soggiorno (residence permit) paperwork. Under Legge 392/1978, Article 11, the deposit (deposito cauzionale, loosely called caparra) cannot exceed three months' rent.
What should you do the week your roommate stops paying?
Act early, while the arrears are small. A calm, practical sequence:
- Read your contract. Is it one joint lease, a sublet, or individual contracts? Is there a clause excluding solidarity? That answers most of your exposure.
- Talk to the roommate in writing. A message is evidence; a hallway chat is not. Ask directly whether they will pay and when.
- Talk to the landlord before they talk to you. A tenant who flags the problem early and proposes a plan is treated very differently from one who goes silent.
- Decide whether to cover the gap. Paying the missing share can stop the arrears clock described above, and your right of recourse survives.
- Replace the roommate formally. According to Servizio Telematico, swapping a tenant on a registered lease must itself be registered with the Agenzia delle Entrate, with a fixed fee it cites as €67. An informal replacement leaves the old name on the contract and the new person with no rights.
If things escalate, a tenants' union such as SUNIA or a local lawyer can read your specific contract. This article is general information, not legal advice.
Why does this hit Erasmus students so hard?
Because shared flats are how most exchange students live, and many sign in a hurry. According to INDIRE, Italy's national Erasmus+ agency, in its 2023 report, Italy ranks second in Europe for hosting Erasmus students, with roughly 200,000 incoming students since 2014. That is a lot of people signing Italian leases with strangers, often with roommates who leave on different dates.
The money at stake is not small either. According to Immobiliare.it Insights data reported by Sky TG24 in August 2026, the national average for a single room fell 6.2% compared with 2025, but Milan still costs €704 a month, Florence €627 and Rome €615, while the cheapest city, Chieti, sits at €240. Covering even one missing share in a big city is a serious hit to a student budget.
The best protection is choosing well at the start: the right contract and the right people. Our guide to the best apps to find rooms in Italy compares where to search, including Coinquilino (coinquilino.app), a free app for finding rooms and roommates in Italy (full disclosure: Coinquilino is our app). And before you commit, read our list of roommate red flags to spot before you sign.
Is my roommate's unpaid rent automatically my debt in Italy?
Only if you share one lease that does not exclude joint liability. Under Codice Civile Article 1294, co-tenants are jointly liable by default unless the law or the contract says otherwise. With a separate individual contract for your room, you owe only your own rent.
Can the landlord take the unpaid rent from the deposit?
The deposit exists to guarantee the landlord against unpaid amounts and damage, and on a joint lease there is usually one deposit for the whole flat. Under Legge 392/1978, Article 11, it is capped at three months' rent. Agree in writing with your roommates how any deductions will be split.
My roommate left Italy. Can I still recover the money?
Legally, yes: Codice Civile Article 1299 gives you recourse for their share. Practically, chasing someone abroad is hard, so the realistic protection is prevention, meaning individual contracts or an exclusion clause, plus written records of every payment.
Does an unregistered lease mean I'm not liable?
Don't rely on that. Registration is a legal requirement, due within 30 days according to the Agenzia delle Entrate, and an unregistered lease creates problems of its own, including for residence and permesso di soggiorno paperwork. Insist on registration and ask for a copy.
How do I get a roommate who never pays removed from the lease?
By agreement and a formal change registered with the Agenzia delle Entrate, which Servizio Telematico says carries a €67 fee. Until that change is registered, the departing person stays on the contract, and so does the shared liability.
What is the single best clause to ask for?
A clause stating that each tenant answers to the landlord only for their own share of the rent, which Servizio Telematico describes as expressly excluding solidarity. It costs nothing to ask for before signing, and it's far harder to add once problems start. For keeping the peace day to day, see our rules for happy roommates.
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This article was produced with the help of AI tools and reviewed by the Coinquilino editorial team.
