Extra tenant - raise rent okay and fair?

[Matthew Leitch]

A tenant asked if another roommate could come live with her. She lives by herself now in a 2 bed, one bath, so there is room for them both. I explained that they would be added to the lease and must pass all other background checks as well as incur a raise in the rent due to additional utility costs and wear and tear. She is okay with this as long as it is fair. My question is... Is all of this okay and what is a fair amount to raise the rent when an additional tenant moves in?

[Kevin Sobilo]

@Matthew Leitch, the first question I would ask is how did you advertise the unit when you rented it. Did you advertise it as $800 per month OR did you advertise is as $800 per month for 1 tenant plus $50 for each additional?

I'm guessing you had a flat rent rate. So, if your best qualified applicant(s) initially had been 2 people you would not be getting any additional rent.  So, anything you get now with this situation is gravy in essence.

That said, I would look at the utilities I as the landlord pay and make a reasonable judgment about how much more 1 person might raise those. If I only pay water for example, I might believe that $20 would cover the additional usage and raise the rent $25-30. If there are more utilities that you pay based on usage then obviously more, but I would keep in mind that its "gravy" because you would not have gotten this extra money if they had applied together originally. So, I would keep it pretty reasonable.