Office Sharing Agreement Template: Everything to Know

An office sharing agreement template is a sample document that can help you write your own office sharing contract. The agreement should contain the names of everyone sharing the office, the date of the agreement, and a few other specifics related to office management.

What to Include in an Office Sharing Agreement

Office sharing agreements are common among groups of compatible professionals such as lawyers, website developers, and financial planners. Whatever the nature of your business arrangement, an office sharing agreement comes in handy when two or more professionals share the same office space. A strong office sharing agreement should include sections on:

• Management: each party involved in the office sharing agreement should have a vote regarding office matters; one party may be elected the managing party to carry out daily office operations
• Property: include a detailed list of property each party owns in the office along with the item's approximate value; list all jointly owned items including equipment, furnishings, and other materials
• Clients: each party is responsible for their own clients
• Accounts: specify that each party is responsible for their own client accounts, which includes receiving and deposit their own fees
• Separateness: all parties agree not to represent one another in any way other than sharing an office space
• Employees: since most shared offices have at least one receptionist and possibly other shared employees, the agreement should state what's expected of these employees in terms of confidentiality and how to communicate with clients
• Withdrawal: if a party loses their license or professional certification, they are considered to have withdrawn from the office sharing agreement, and another professional may be added to the office space with the consent of existing parties
• Insurance: each party should have their own liability insurance when required
• Signatures: the agreement should end with a section for each party's signature and the date upon which the agreement was signed

How to Create an Office Sharing Agreement

It's essential to put your office sharing agreement in writing to avoid confusion in the future, especially if you share the space with another small business. Using an office sharing agreement template as a guide will help.

The agreement assumes all parties are listed on the property's master lease, but not all landlords allow that situation. In this case, one party must become the master tenant and sublet the additional spaces to colleagues. The agreement should include a provision stating the terms of the master lease.

A sample office sharing agreement might appear as follows:

This office sharing agreement is made between [the names of those sharing the space], who intend to share the office located at [the office address]. [Person 1] is a [professional title], [Person 2] is a [professional title], etc.

1. We agree to share the office suite in order to save resources and money as well as benefit from one another's skills, knowledge, experience, and company.
2. We will share the entire office suite at [address] as described in this office sharing agreement. [Names of all involved] will have their own private office space while [applicable names] will share a single office as described in the agreement.
3. Only the people listed in this agreement are sharing the office space.
4. No one may sublease an individual space without the others' consent.
5. The lease on the office suite at [address] begins on [date] and has a term of [X number of] years. We plan to stay for the entire term of the lease. If anyone wishes to leave before then, that person is responsible for rent until a replacement tenant is found.
6. Each party is a lessor under the lease of our landlord, [landlord's name], and we are jointly responsible for rent and other lease-related expenses.
7. All of us will share the office's common areas, including the kitchen, reception area, conference room, and bathrooms.
8. Each of us will have our own phone lines installed.
9. We will have meetings the first [day of the week] each month to discuss office sharing concerns and vote on any issues.
10. We all agree to keep common areas clean and to maintain our own private office supplies. We will cooperate to supply the bathrooms and kitchen and agree to clean up after ourselves.

Signed, [the names of all parties involved and the date].

If you need help with an office sharing agreement template, post your job on UpCounsel's marketplace. UpCounsel accepts only the top 5 percent of lawyers to its site. Lawyers on UpCounsel come from law schools such as Harvard Law and Yale Law and average 14 years of legal experience, including work with or on behalf of companies like Google, Menlo Ventures, and Airbnb.