If they want to pay more to maintain legacy messes, then I'm fine with more rules. That shows the business wants it done right. They don't though, so I can't ag

If they want to pay more to maintain legacy messes, then I'm fine with more rules. That shows the business wants it done right. They don't though, so I can't agree with putting in more work for no extra compensation. I know this counter argument sounds crabby, but going along with existing conventions on a legacy code base might be a lot of work for someone who's only familiar with more recent practices. It's not something you can passively do. Plus having to adopt these older patterns won't help your resume, which is an opportunity cost we are absorbing for free (and shouldn't have to)