How to Draft a Roommate Agreement from House Rules
Roommate agreements fail when the model writes a lease. It invents a security deposit, a 30-day notice statute, a quiet-hours fine, and a city ordinance you never pasted. Someone signs it. It is still not a lease, and the numbers were never agreed. The job is a house-rules draft from facts you already share, with a not-legal-advice banner, and a gaps list for money you have not decided.
The matching generator is the Roommate Agreement from House Rules (Not Legal Advice) prompt. Browse related cards in the PromptDig library (Browse more prompts). When a filled run survives, share the version you actually use (Share a prompt).
House rules are the canon. Statutes are not.
Situation: who lives there, rooms, pets if you named them. Facts: rent split only if you already agreed a number, chore list, guest rules, quiet hours as you actually say them. Constraints: what is already in the lease you have (if you pasted it). Safety: smoke, locks, shared keys. Banner: not legal advice. Preferences: tone (plain, short).
The plan may restate Facts. It may not pull "standard" deposits or local notice periods from general knowledge. If rent is unnamed, the money section is NOT IN INPUTS, not a guessed equal split.
The artifact is a living house list, not a contract
The generator should emit: a short purpose line, a not-legal-advice banner, sections that match your rules (spaces, chores, guests, quiet hours, shared items), and a signatures-or-ack line only if you asked for one.
Do not invent:
- Rent, deposit, or fee amounts
- Late fees
- Statutory notice windows
- Landlord duties
- Jurisdiction
- Arbitration clauses
- "Binding in the state of"
If Facts include "rent is 1800 total, split three ways already agreed," that number may appear. If Facts say "we have not decided utilities," utilities is a gap, not 50 percent.
De-identify last names if Safety asked. This is a household draft. It is not legal advice, not a lease, and not an eviction tool.
Contingencies without invented numbers, then gaps
Contingencies: if a chore is missed, what you already said (a text, a redo), not a $20 fine. If a guest stays longer than you allowed, the draft points at the guest rule you wrote, not a penalty schedule.
Gaps: missing rent, missing whose name is on the lease, missing city, missing how utilities are paid, missing what happens if someone leaves. Five bullets. The draft ships when those are filled by the humans who live there.
A worked pass: chores and guests, money blank
Situation: three adults, one kitchen, cat allowed. Facts: dishwasher nightly, guests max two nights unless all say yes, quiet after 11. Constraints: none pasted from a lease. Safety: do not copy lock codes into the doc. Banner: not legal advice. Prefs: short.
Plan: restates dishwasher, guests, quiet hours. Agreement sections match. Rent, deposit, and notice are NOT IN INPUTS. Contingency: guest overstay gets a conversation, not a fee. Gaps include lease names and utilities.
If the model writes a $200 deposit and "30 days written notice per state law," cut both. If it names a city statute, cut it. You can take the surviving list to a lawyer if you need a real agreement. This card should not impersonate one.
Fill the card, then run
Paste the rules you already say out loud. Leave rent blank if you have not agreed it. Keep the not-legal-advice banner.
Household / situation: [Situation]
Facts and numbers I have: [Facts]
Constraints: [Constraints]
Safety notes: [Safety]
Not-advice needs: [Banner]
Preferences: [Prefs]
A house list that tells the truth is more useful than a fake lease. When a run keeps money in Gaps and prints a not-legal-advice banner, share that filled card.