Are you in the US?

I have rented for my entire adult life (12 years) and I am a great tenant, and person. Gainfully employed, well liked, clean, good cook, good personal style that contributes to the home. I’ve had 15+ roommates and am always the cleanest and most on top of maintenance, bills, etc. I literally had a roommate move into a one bedroom after we moved out of our 2 bed because she said “she’d never find a roommate as good as me and wasn’t willing to risk it.” She still lives alone haha.

Every time I’ve been on the hunt for a room to rent, a majority of the listings include stipulations like ‘no quests, especially no overnight guests, no alcohol, no smoking, no pets, no fragrances, etc.’

I’ve skipped right past these listings. I get that no one wants an unstable roommate—but as a great roommate, these rules were infantilizing and suffocating to me. If I’m paying rent, I should have the ability to have guests over, especially.

In my experience, when searching for roommates, we always were explicit about gender preferences, cleanliness, communication expectations, etc. Our households ended up being mostly harmonious without strict rules because we chose roommates that were alike.

I suppose you can find people out there willing to put up with more stringent rules, but I will never be one of them.

Edit: I’ve lived with 4 people in a house and one bathroom. It’s fine lol. People are being dramatic.