Rules don't usually appear on a list of amenities.
In shared housing, perhaps they should.
When I began developing my coliving operation, I worried that detailed house rules would scare prospective houseguests away. Conventional hospitality advice often favors simplicity. Don't overwhelm the customer. Make everything easy.
That makes sense when you're renting an isolated hotel room.
It becomes considerably more complicated when several unrelated adults share bathrooms, kitchens, laundry equipment, entrances, parking, and other resources.
I discovered something surprising.
Prospective houseguests didn't merely tolerate clear rules. Many appreciated them.
Some told me that the existence of explicit expectations helped distinguish my property from alternatives. The rules communicated that someone was actively managing the environment.
That was particularly meaningful to some of the women considering staying in the home. Structure wasn't interpreted simply as restriction.
It could also signal safety.
That experience changed my perspective.
House rules aren't primarily about telling adults what they cannot do.
They're infrastructure for managing shared resources.
Consider a washing machine.
In a traditional apartment, one household decides how to use it. In a coliving home, several unrelated people may need the same machine. Someone leaving clothes inside for hours isn't merely being forgetful. They're temporarily removing a shared resource from everyone else's use.
The same principle applies to dirty dishes, bathroom belongings, parking, quiet hours, smoking, and common areas.
Small behaviors can create cumulative friction.
The operator's job is to anticipate predictable points of friction and establish expectations before resentment develops around them.
That doesn't mean creating rules simply because you can.
A rule should have a job.
Maybe it protects safety.
Maybe it preserves access to a shared resource.
Maybe it protects the property.
Maybe it reduces conflict.
Maybe it establishes a predictable standard.
If you can't explain what problem a rule solves, reconsider whether you need it.
But don't assume that fewer rules automatically create a more welcoming environment.
In shared housing, ambiguity can be considerably less welcoming than structure.
Good rules don't merely tell people what not to do.
They tell everyone what they can reasonably expect from one another.