How Sharelet works.

Sharelet is a marketplace for shared housing — rooms, sublets, and shared homes — with verified people only. Search, messaging, viewings, the lease, the deposit, and rent all happen in the app so your identity and money stay protected end to end.

A seeker is looking for a place; a host has space to offer. You can be either or both. Your “mode” just switches which side of the app you see, and you can flip between them once you've set up both sides.

Complete a short host application — what you're hosting (a room, a whole place, or multiple) plus a brief intro. Your host dashboard turns on as soon as you finish.

Fill in a quick intake — your city, budget, move-in timing, lease length, and a little about you. That seeds your Renter Passport so you start getting matched right away.

Yes — tap “Continue with Google” on the sign-up or login screen. The first time, we'll ask for your date of birth (you must be 18+) and to accept the Terms to finish setting up, then you're in. You can still use an email and password if you prefer.

Your profile is yours to personalize: add a photo and a cover banner, pick an accent color, answer a few prompts, add lifestyle badges, the languages you speak, a fun fact, your neighborhood favorites, and even a Spotify anthem or playlist. A completeness meter shows what's left — a fuller, verified profile earns more trust and more replies.

Open “Contact support” from the Help Center or your account menu to file a ticket — a complaint, a concern, or a question. You'll see replies in-app and get a notification when support responds. Plus and Host Pro members are flagged priority and jump to the top of the queue.

Level 1 is email verified (every account). Level 2 is government-ID verified with a live selfie + ID match. Level 3 adds a background check. Each level adds a badge people can see.

The ID check is about $5 and the background check about $35 — both one-time, shown before you start. They stay current for a year, then you're nudged to refresh.

Trust drives results. Verified seekers get replies and acceptances far more often, and verified hosts win more applicants. It's the single biggest thing you can do to stand out.

It's your housing profile — budget, timing, lease length, occupants, pets, smoking, lifestyle, and a short about. It's optional, but a fuller passport means better matches and faster yeses. Only you and hosts you've applied to can see it.

Optionally connect your bank (securely, through our payment partner) and we read your recurring income to award a verified-affordability badge — no pay stubs to dig up. We store only a coarse income band, never your transactions, balances, or statements. By default hosts just see “Income verified”; you choose whether to also reveal the estimated range, since it's only an estimate and can read low for variable income.

Each listing shows how well it fits your passport — weighted across budget, pets, smoking, occupants, and availability, plus a lifestyle read. It's guidance to help you prioritize, not a barrier.

Browse lets you narrow by city, price, move-in timing, and room type, plus practical must-haves — including whether a place is fully furnished and whether parking is available. Stack the filters to zero in on exactly what you need.

Send a short request with your move-in date, duration, budget, and a note. It starts as pending; the host can accept or decline. You can have one pending request per listing at a time.

Messaging opens once a host accepts your request — one thread per request. Messages are screened, and anything pushing payment or contact off-platform gets flagged. Keep everything on Sharelet so you stay protected.

Sharelet Plus members get about a 6-hour head start on brand-new listings before free members see them — a real edge in fast markets. Boosted listings are visible to everyone right away.

A host can publish open viewing slots you book directly, or either side can propose a specific time — in person or by video — once you're connected. Always view in person or by video before paying anything.

After a host accepts, both sides fill in the terms — rent, deposit, and house rules like quiet hours, guests, cleaning, pets, and smoking — and each ticks “agree.” Editing any term resets both agreements, so nobody is ever bound to stale terms. A formal lease with signatures can be attached.

The host proposes an amount, you fund it through secure checkout — by bank debit (ACH), which takes a few business days to clear, or by card, which is instant — and Sharelet holds it in escrow. It is NOT paid to the host at move-in; it's released at move-out based on the actual condition of the place. The total is the same either way.

Yes — a one-time protection fee of 5% of the deposit (minimum $5, maximum $99), paid by the renter at checkout. It covers the escrow protection and isn't refundable. Sharelet never takes a cut of the deposit principal itself.

When move-out starts, the host has 14 days to return it in full or propose itemized deductions with a note and photos. If they do nothing in 14 days, the full deposit auto-returns to you.

You can accept (the deductions go to the host, the rest is refunded to you) or open a dispute. If you don't respond within 7 days of a proposal, it's auto-accepted — so review it promptly. A host must finish payout setup before any deduction can actually be paid out.

You can request the deposit back. The host has a few days to refund or dispute it; after that you can claim the refund yourself. You get the principal back — the protection fee is never refunded.

Nothing happens to your money — there's no charge until later in the process. A pending request can simply be withdrawn, and a host can decline one, with no penalty.

Either side can end the tenancy with a reason. That cancels the request, stops the rent schedule, and re-opens the listing if it was marked filled. Any held deposit must be refunded first, and you can't end a tenancy while a deposit dispute is open. The other party is notified.

While a deposit is held, either side can open a dispute and both add move-in / move-out photo evidence. Decisions are made against our published deduction standards (see the Deduction standards page) with the sealed move-in condition report as the baseline. Before any money moves, both parties receive the written rationale and have a 48-hour window to add new evidence. An open dispute freezes settlement until it's resolved, and either party keeps their legal rights against the other.

A shared photo baseline of the place's condition at move-in. Both parties add photos and each confirms; once both confirm it's sealed — nobody can change it. At move-out, any deduction claim is judged against that baseline, which protects the renter from unfair claims and the host from "it was already like that." Do it in the first days of every tenancy.

Only real, evidenced costs: damage beyond normal wear and tear, excessive cleaning, junk removal, missing items, or unpaid amounts — itemized with photos. Normal wear and tear (nail holes, scuffs, faded paint, worn carpet), pre-existing conditions, and routine turnover costs are never deductible. The full list is on our Deduction standards page, and every dispute is decided against it.

You schedule a safety check-in for move-in day and can add an emergency contact. On the day you confirm a safe arrival or flag a problem, which alerts our trust team. If a scheduled check-in isn't confirmed within about 6 hours of its time, it's auto-escalated to us.

The host sets a monthly schedule (amount, due day, start month) and each month becomes a payable item the tenant pays in the app. The host is notified on every payment, and either side can send a friendly one-tap reminder.

Pay by bank debit (ACH) for a flat $9.99 — it settles in a few business days and shows as “processing” until it clears — or by card for a 3% fee, which is instant. Sharelet never takes a cut of the rent itself; the fee is shown up front.

Plus is for seekers — $12/month or $79/year. You get unlimited AI lease checks, an AI deposit-fairness check, early access to new listings, priority placement in host inboxes, see-who-viewed-your-profile, unlimited applications & messages, a verified affordability badge, a Plus badge, and a premium “Your Space” dashboard.

Host Pro is for hosts — $29/month or $290/year. You get one free listing boost every billing cycle, AI applicant fit summaries, a fraud & duplicate-applicant shield, an applicant screening pipeline & ranking, a verified-applicant filter, automated rent reminders & schedules, a multi-listing dashboard, vacancy & views analytics, and priority support.

Yes — Host Pro comes with one free listing boost every billing cycle, refreshed each time your membership renews. Take it as a free 3-day top-of-search placement, or put the credit toward a longer premium boost instead: Highlighted for $20 (normally $39) or Featured for $40 (normally $59). You spend it one way each cycle.

Memberships are time-based and renew monthly (or yearly). You keep every perk while your membership is active. Everything is handled through secure checkout.

It's a Plus perk: you see the people who've looked at your profile, along with their verification level. (Hosts similarly see who viewed their listings.)

Yes — invite a friend with your referral link (find it under Account → Invite), and when they join, you BOTH get 30 days of Sharelet Plus free. There's no limit on how many friends you can refer.

Both Plus and Host Pro include priority support: when you file a support ticket it's automatically flagged priority and sorted ahead of others in our queue, so you get a faster reply. File one from “Contact support” in the Help Center or your account menu.

You can connect with other verified seekers, and once you're mutually connected you can chat — handy for finding someone to team up with before you apply anywhere.

A squad lets you team up with roommates and post a “Housing Wanted” together as a group, so hosts can see you're looking as a unit.

Existing households can post their open spots, and seekers express interest — a way to join an established place rather than start one from scratch.

Post what you're looking for (solo or as a squad) and hosts browse those posts to send you offers or invite you to team up. Any offers you receive show up under “My offers.”

Paste your lease text or upload a PDF/image and get a fairness read: a 0–100 score, a verdict (fair / caution / unfair), a plain-English summary, a deposit-safe flag, and clause-by-clause findings with suggestions. A lease earns the Fair Lease badge at 75+ and deposit-safe.

Free members get 1 lease check; Sharelet Plus members get unlimited.

It finds verified places, tells you whether a price is fair, drafts an intro message to a host, and answers any question about how Sharelet works — deposits, cancellations, memberships, verification, and more.

Host Pro adds one-paragraph applicant fit summaries, a warm auto-decline drafter, and a fraud shield that scores applicants for risk (off-platform-payment language, copy-pasted notes, or brand-new unverified accounts). The AI never judges protected characteristics.

Scam Shield screens every listing and flags risky ones — off-platform payment pressure, urgency tactics, contact details hidden in the listing, prices far below the local median, or paper-thin descriptions. Messages are screened too.

Never pay off-platform, never send money before an in-person or video viewing, and report anything that feels off. Keeping payments and conversations on Sharelet is what keeps the protections working.

Accepted seekers can review the place; hosts can review a past tenant (shown on the seeker's profile); and a seeker can invite a landlord, roommate, or employer to vouch for them via a private link.

If we suspend or ban an account, we email you the specific reason so you're never left guessing. Some suspensions are temporary — they lift automatically once the set time is up — and if we reinstate an account, we email you to let you know. If you believe it was a mistake, you can appeal by contacting support.

Set up payouts through Stripe Connect from your host tools. You'll need this finished before any deposit deduction can be transferred to you; rent you collect settles to you as well.

A bump for more reach — $19 for 7 days (Standard), $39 for 7 days plus a highlighted card (Highlighted), or $59 for 14 days plus a homepage feature (Featured). Boosted listings also skip the Plus early-access window. Host Pro members get one free boost each billing cycle and can put its credit toward a discounted premium tier.

Your applicant pipeline collects every request with the seeker's verification and details. Host Pro ranks them, summarizes fit, flags risky applications, and lets you filter to verified applicants only.

Deposit protection: 5% of the deposit ($5–$99), paid by the renter, non-refundable. Rent: $9.99 flat for bank debit or 3% for card, paid by the tenant. Verification: about $5 (ID) and $35 (background), one-time. Boosts: about $19–$59. Memberships: Plus $12/mo or $79/yr; Host Pro $29/mo or $290/yr.

No. Sharelet never quietly skims the deposit principal or the rent itself — the only charges are the fees above, and they're always shown up front at checkout.