Rules for living at Dan's house

(This is a first draft. Input is welcome.)

Rent

• Rent is 450$ per month, prorated by the day, and will be entered into the debt-tracking system.
• Rent covers the payer's share of the following ongoing expenses, which will therefore not be tracked separately:
  • Property taxes
  • Electric, gas, and water bills
  • The Internet connection
  • Normal house maintenance (furnace filters, keeping the shower working, etc)

Kitchen

• The left side of the sink is to be kept clear except when actively being used to wash dishes.
• Counters should be kept clear when not in use except for agreed-upon appliances TBD.

Living Room

• Furniture must be kept clear when not in use with exceptions TBD.

Bathroom

• The floor must be kept clear except for the following items:
  • Trash basket
  • A scale, if we have one
• The fan and embedded light must be turned on while showers are being taken
• The shower curtain should remain closed except to be passed

The Office

• Will contain furniture to be agreed upon later.

Other Public Spaces (e.g. the hallway)

• Must be kept clear of stuff

Storage Space

• There is some in the basement, and some in the garage.
• Stuff stored away should be labeled with its content and stored as compactly as possible without requiring digging to find it.

Privacy, Guests, and Stuff Like That

• No girls allowed in Dan's room without explicit permission which by default remains in effect until noon the following day, with the exception of Yoru, who may come and go as she pleases.
• Occupants must make a good faith effort to give prior notice (preferrably via SMS) when bringing over guests.

Debt Tracking System

The debt tracking system consists of a file listing costs paid, who paid them, and who benefitted from them. This is processed by a program (DebtTracker) that calculates a balance for each party. Debts are paid when balances are zero.

The payment file will be stored in a Git repository and also posted on a publicly viewable web site (though possibly at a URL known only to occupants). Suggested additions may be e-mailed to Dan.

Some expenses that should be entered include:

• Rent (-450$ to each renter per month)
• Making a purchase on behalf of another party
• Making a purchase that is near-equally beneficial for multiple parties (e.g. communally consumed food)
• Direct payments

Under normal circumstances, no balance should drop below -500$.

Property Damage

Damage to property neither due to normal wear-and-tear will be repaired, or have the cost of repair paid for by the party or parties responsible for the damage.

Examples of normal wear-and-tear includes:

• Nail or drywall screw holes in drywall
• Weathering of exposed surfaces (floors, carpets, walls) due to being walked on or past
• Wear-down of appliances due to normal use (e.g. lightbulb filaments burning out, switches going on the fritz, plumbing becoming leaky)

Examples of abnormal damage include:

• The back wall of the garage being displaced due to someone driving through it
• Knee-sized holes in drywall due to fits of 'dating frustration'
• The showerhead holder being broken because someone shoved the showerhead into it too hard

Dispute Resolution

When there is a dispute over an issue not resolved by the above rules, it will be resolved by a coin flip. Because it is his house, Dan may request one re-flip if he doesn't like the outcome for minor disputes, up to 3 re-flips in cases where he believes the consequences of the 'wrong' flip result to be especially dire.

Alternatively, if agreed to by all parties, a dispute may be resolved by:

• A 3-mile foot race
• A 10-mile bike race
• A game of Total Annihilation

Changes to These Rules

May be agreed upon, with disputes resolved using the method described above. New rules get a 1-month trial period, and may be reverted when agreed upon, also using the same dispute resolution method.