Tenants wants to add 3rd tenant to 1br unit

[Patrick Laffey]

I have two tenants that are pretty good tenants but don’t have a lot of money. The end of the lease is coming in a few months and they keep asking to keep the rent the same price because they can’t afford much higher (currently could rent maybe $50-100 more a month on the unit, but would need a lot of repairs, cleaning, and occupancy while I do this so I’m fine being a little under). 

Today the tenant asked if they could renew the lease in a few months but add a third person to the new lease. It’s a 1 bed 1 bath unit, maybe 600 sqft, but I assume they’re all trying to save money best they can. It seems like a positive would be that I would be more confident they can pay every month and I could probably charge a little more since it’s now split 3 ways and get closer to market rents without cleaning or repairs. 

Assuming this is legal in my city having 3 people in a 1 bedroom unit, are there any down sides I should be aware of?