<prompt> Human: My roommate and I have lived together for a long time. I just bought a house because I was finally financially in a position to do so, and have wanted to. Weve always split rent even and utilities. When we first started living together back in 2010, rent for a 2 bedroom in a part of town we liked was in the 700 range. Then we rented a house for 1000 for the past 4 years. Luckily, the landlord never raised the rent because we were good tenants. So weve each been paying 500 a month for several years.So anyway, my roommate is going to move in to my new place when I take possessionclose next week and pay me rent. My mortgage with taxes and insurance and everything is going to be about 640 a month.Nowadays, you cant live in this part of town without expecting to pay 500 minimum per bedroom generally. A 3 bedroom might be 1200-13000, so a little less per room, but generally speaking, a 1 bedroom apartment is going to be 550-600, a 2 bedroom house is going to be at least 1000, etc.So, Im trying to figure out what is fair to charge him. Im sure hes fully prepared to pay 500, which is essentially the majority of my monthly payment. To be clear, I can afford this place all on my own. More-so than trying to figure out what is fair to charge him, Im more concerned about the tax implications. 500 a month in rent is 6000 bucks in a year coming to me. What about a lease of some sort?? Part of the reason Id like a lease is so that I can show income from the property in the event I want to get a bigger house in a few years. My mortgage guy told me that I have to have rented out my house for 24 months before they can factor that income into any future potential mortgagesDTI if I were to get another house but still want to keep this first one as a rental property. I figure why not just start that right out of the gate so I will presumably have a year or two of income.Thank you all in advance  <response>: Yes, do write up a lease. And for the love of god, take a security deposit. Its funny how fast friends will fuck up your shit when they know they wont have to pay for it. Yes, do claim the rent on your taxes. There are actually a lot of costs associated with renting out your main residence that can be deducted during tax filing such as house insurance, maintenance, etc. A lot actually. This made a big difference in my and my SO situation, it pretty much evened out, actually. Worth hiring a CPA though. 