Every PG has rules. Gate timings, guests, food, smoking, notice period. Most owners explain them on the first phone call, or worse, on moving day while handing over the keys.
That is the worst possible moment. By then the person has made up their mind, sometimes paid a deposit, and the rules arrive as a surprise. Surprises at the start of a stay turn into arguments later.
Rules are a filter, and that is a good thing
Owners sometimes worry that listing the rules will scare people away. It will, and that is the point. A student who wants to come back at one in the morning should not move into a PG where the gate closes at 10.30. It is far better that they find this out on your website than in their second week, after a fight with the security guard.
The people who read your rules and still get in touch are the people who will be happy living by them. That is who you want.
What to put on the page
Write down every rule you have ever had to explain on a call. For most PGs, the list looks something like this:
- Gate or entry timings, and what happens if someone is late
- Visitors: where they can sit, until what time, and overnight stays
- Food: meal timings, outside food, cooking in rooms
- Smoking and alcohol
- Housekeeping and cleaning schedule
- Laundry: machine, service, or do it yourself
- Notice period, and how and when the deposit is refunded
- Documents needed before moving in
The last two cause more disputes than the rest. Spell them out. If a month's notice is required and shorter notice means a deduction from the deposit, say exactly that, in rupees if you can.
Write them like a person, not a police notice
Compare these two:
"STRICTLY NO VISITORS AFTER 8 PM. VIOLATORS WILL BE ASKED TO LEAVE."
"Friends and family are welcome in the common room until 8 pm. For everyone's safety, guests cannot stay overnight."
The rule is the same. One sounds like a warning, the other sounds like a house someone looks after. Capital letters and threats tell a reader how you will treat them when something goes wrong.
Give a reason where it helps. "The gate closes at 10.30 pm because that is when our night guard takes over and locks up. If you work late shifts, tell us before you move in and we will register you for late entry." A rule with a reason is easier to accept, and a known exception stops a lot of arguments.
Different buildings need different rules. A PG in Hinjewadi full of IT professionals on rotating shifts cannot run the same gate timings as a ladies' PG near the colleges in Viman Nagar. Marketing a PG to students versus working professionals goes into how the two audiences differ.
Keep the website and the agreement in step
The rules on your website should match what residents sign. If the website says a month's notice and the agreement says two, you have a dispute waiting to happen, and the resident will point at whichever version suits them.
What you can include in a stay or rental agreement, and what you can actually enforce, depends on your state and city. Have a local lawyer or another professional look over your agreement once, then copy the key terms onto the website word for word.
Where the rules belong on your site
Put a short summary on every listing: the four rules that matter most, usually gate timing, visitors, food and notice period. Then link to a full rules page that covers everything.
Write it as text on the page, not a scanned photo of a printed sheet. People read on phones and need to zoom and scroll comfortably. Search engines and AI assistants can read text, but they cannot reliably read a photo of a notice.
It also helps to phrase some rules as the questions people actually ask. "Can my parents stay overnight?" "Can I cook noodles in my room?" "What happens if I leave before my notice period ends?" People type questions like these into Google and ask them to ChatGPT. A page that answers them in plain words is the kind of page those tools can find and quote. How AI assistants find a property business explains why.
What changes on the phone
Once the rules are online, calls start differently. "I read your rules. The 10.30 gate is fine for me. Is the double sharing bed still free?" That caller has already said yes to most things. The visit is shorter, and move-out goes more smoothly because nothing was left to memory.
This week:
- List every rule you have explained on a call in the last month
- Rewrite each in one or two friendly sentences, with a reason where it helps
- Check that each rule matches your written agreement
- Put the four most important rules on every listing
- Publish the full list as a page and link to it
If you have not yet put your rents and charges online in the same plain way, showing rent, deposit and maintenance clearly is the natural next step.
