for context I (21F) live with my dad and step-mom and have lived with them for most of my life. i call my step mom “mom” because she’s been the main maternal figure in my life since i was 2 years old, my bio mom isn’t present. my dad and step mom have three other children together that also live in the house. 

my relationship with my parents has always been kind of weird, it’s not awful by any means but something has always been off. i recently finally bought my first car with the help of my dad (he put money towards the down payment), which is a goal i was working towards for a couple years, and i’m very grateful for his help, but it feels like i hardly got any time before they found another thing to bother me about. 

this has always been their thing, whenever i accomplish something they hardly acknowledge it and instead move on to the next thing they can find to pester me about, and the cycle just continues. 

now i understand that as an adult who is still living with their parents, it’s not unusual of my parents to expect something of me. the thing that is confusing to me is the contract aspect, i don’t know if this is normal or if this is weird and i don’t know what i should do. they basically handed me the papers and are expecting me to sign them and if i don’t agree and sign i’m assuming i’m out of a place to live. 

some of the parts of the contract are reasonable. i pay my own phone bill, pay my own car insurance, keep the space clean, buy my own stuff, etc. but most of it is really rubbing me the wrong way and i don’t know how to feel about it. the pictures attached include most of it but there are some pages i forgot to take pictures of (i’m posting this from work). 

the papers state that i must pay the entire household’s water bill (6 person household btw), that my parents have the right to look at my private financial information and bank statements whenever they see fit, they can “inspect” my spaces whenever, and i need written permission to practice a business out of the home. this is really interesting timing considering just last month i decided to start pursuing doing nails as a side hustle, and i was planning on doing this out of my room. what’s also strange is that my dad admitted that he used chat gpt to create this contract. 

i’ve also never screamed or been disrespectful to my parents in such a manner as stated in point 10, so it’s interesting that that’s included. same with point 11, i almost never have guests over and when i do my parents have never had problems with it. last weird thing i wanted to mention is that there’s another page which states in order to keep my residence in the house, i must either work a minimum of 20 hours a week or be taking college classes (which i can’t even do because my parents have refused to fill out my FAFSA). the reason this is weird to me is because i literally work two jobs and love working, so of course i’m already working well above the minimum weekly hours. it’s not something they’d ever have to worry about and they know that.

i guess what i’m asking is if this “contract” is truly legally binding like they seem to think it is, whether or not i should sign it, and if this is controlling or manipulative on their behalf or if i’m just overreacting. i also am not sure how i’d go about refusing to sign this if that’s what i end up deciding to do, so if anyone had advice on that i’d appreciate it. i’m sorry if this is weird or confusing, i’ve never posted on reddit like this and i just feel overwhelmed and confused and would like some guidance. thank you guys 🩷

my parents handed me a “contract” that they made with chatGPT and told me i have to sign it