Legal Question in Business Law in California

A check made out directly to the landlord instead of the roommate who you apparently don't know.

I disagree with Mr. McCormick, to some extent. How about a written lease?

I'm at a loss as to how Mr. Roach thinks that a written lease will protect you from someone in another state taking a check made out to them, cashing it and taking off with the money. Roommate situations are very tricky. I cannot recommend strongly enough that you deal directly with the landlord as much as possible. And bear in mind that no matter what you and your roommate might agree on, once you both sign the lease you will be 100% responsible to the landlord if the roommate later flakes out, cant pay the rent or does damage, and unless the roommate has the money to pay, the landlord can sue you and you have no recourse but to sue the roommate - which is useless if they have no money.

I think you should have a written lease (or month-to-month rental agreement) with the landlord or the roommate in any case, irrespective of what you do to make sure your roommate-to-be acts in good faith. Your question doesn't make it clear whether there is a lease or rental agreement at this time and that you are going to be moving in with a roommate who is already a tenant, or whether you the the future roommate are planning to sign a lease together in the future. My suggestion would be to try to work out some kind of arrangement where you don't advance any money to someone you don't trust. If there is a landlord already, send the money to the landlord with a notation on the check as to what it's for (address and dates). If only a future roommate who's shopping for a place, either get to trust him/her before sending money or send it to a third party to hold until it can be delivered to the landlord. This is why we have escrows for home purchases - a responsible third-party stakeholder.