<prompt> Human: Currently, my spouse and I are renting a 3BR 2.5bath house for 1,425month. We are about to sign the new lease for the year. My sister-in-law 18yo is planning to take a gap year before college, and we thought it would be nice for her to stay with us several states away from her parents to get some experience living as an adult. We also wanted to help her save for college by giving her an affordable place to live.The lease states that any additional tenants would require a 215 background check and 100month additional rent. It seems odd to me that there would be an additional cost per person in a house that is currently mostly empty we also have very few belongings, so the other two bedrooms are almost completely bare. Is this typical? Are there any angles I could try to negotiate this with the landlord? I feel I could negotiate out of that background check fee because we use Cozy for the property management, so a background check would be paid through them.We pay all utilities and perform all lawn care.TLDR: How can I negotiate with landlords to decrease 100month additional rent and 215 background check to allow my 18yo sister-in-law to move in with us during a gap year?  <response>: The 215 background check is better labeled fuck off fee. The landlord is trying to put in a speed bump to you subletting to 6 different people at the same time. Per-person fees are attractive to landlords because a family of 6 will very often have much more wear and year in a year than two consecutive families of 3. That said, adding rent on a per-person basis can be tricky and in some jurisdictions is interpreted as violating fair housing law. For those who care, the thinking goes that since you cant discriminate on family status its a punishment to charge bigger families more. Since this is your brothers sister and not an unrelated stranger I would take the tack with your landlord that she is family and will be your financial dependent, and therefore should waive the 215. Offer to pick up an expense like lawncare if your landlord pays for it in exchange for waiving the 100. If youre renting from a person and not a company a plate of fresh home-baked cookies can go a surprisingly long way. 