Landlord introduces a $20 per night guest fee, then demands $100 prepayment and a registered ID for a tenant's sister coming to help them: 'They have cameras in the hallway'

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Etai Eshet • Editor
Apr 20, 2026 10:30 AM EDT

Landlords have always had a gift for finding new and creative ways to extract money from people who are already paying them a significant amount of money every single month just to exist somewhere, but charging tenants a nightly fee for having guests over is a genuinely special achievement in that tradition. Twenty dollars a night, per person, for the crime of having your sister sleep on your couch. Welcome to the future of renting.

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  • Man leaning on balcony railing looking out under clear blue sky near modern building.
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    Man leaning on a metal balcony railing, looking outward under a clear blue sky.

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  • My landlord is now charging me for having guests over like it is some kind of luxury resort

    I just got an email from my property manager and I am actually shaking with rage right now. They just
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  • implemented a new guest policy that states any person staying past 10 PM is considered an overnight guest and will incur a
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  • twenty dollar fee per night per person. They even had the audacity to say this was to cover the additional wear and tear on the common areas and increased utility
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  • usage which is absolute bulls because I pay for my own din electricity and water.
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  • It gets worse though. My sister is visiting from out of town next week to help me out after my surgery and when I told them she would be staying for five days they
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  • told me I had to register her ID at the front office and prepay the hundred bucks or she would be considered
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    Man leaning over a metal balcony railing, looking down from an outdoor stair structure against a clear blue sky.

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  • an unauthorized occupant and we could both face eviction proceedings.
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  • Imagine being a grown adult paying two thousand a month for a cramped one bedroom and having to ask permission and pay a toll just to have your own family stay on your couch.
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  • The justification offered here is wear and tear on common areas and utility usage, which would be a more convincing argument if the tenant was not already paying for their own electricity and water. So what exactly is being compensated for. The hallway carpet experiencing one additional pair of feet walking across it. The elevator button being pressed by someone who does not live there. At two thousand dollars a month for a one-bedroom apartment, the building has already been compensated generously for whatever wear and tear a visiting family member might cause just by breathing near the lobby.

  • This is what happens when housing is treated like a stock portfolio instead of a human right. These leeches wont be happy until every
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  • What makes this particular situation so perfectly awful is the timing. The sister is coming to help after surgery. Not a party, not a month-long freeloading situation, but someone's family member showing up to help them recover from a medical procedure, and the response from management is to demand a hundred dollars upfront and a registered ID or face eviction proceedings. The bureaucratic energy here is extraordinary. These people built a toll booth in front of a hospital visit.

  • single interaction we have inside our homes is monetized for their next vacation home fund. They have cameras in the hallway
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  • The cameras in the hallway counting heads like a bouncer at a club is the detail that really pulls everything together. At some point the relationship between landlord and tenant stopped being a straightforward exchange and became something much closer to a subscription service with constant upsells, surprise fees, and terms of service that update whenever someone in an office decides there is still money left on the table. Pay rent to live there, pay extra to have a guest, pay attention to the fine print because they certainly are.

  • and I am pretty sure they are just sitting there counting heads like we are cattle in a pen. I honestly
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  • hate this system so much it makes me sick to my stomach. We are literally paying these people to be our prison wardens and they expect us to be grateful for the privilege.
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  • Two thousand a month and you still have to ask permission to let your sister sleep on your couch. The hospitality industry charges less and at least pretends to be happy to see you.

  • Leather-Researcher13 NAL This is not legal. In California and a few other states it is explicitly illegal to charge for having guests. In others, there is good argument that charging for guests impedes your rights to free enjoyment of the property. Additionally, if the guest policy is mentioned in your lease it likely cannot be changed without notice
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  • My suggestion would be to look into the relevant laws where you live and contact a lawyer, if necessary
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  • without-bounds This CANNOT be legal
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  • Stage_Ghost NAL, if the guest policy is in the lease they likely can't just change it arbitrarily. This is an insane. level of over reach/audacity on their part.
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  • SuzeCB Illegal in all 50 states to say you can't have overnight guests without paying more. Illegal to institute fines and fees mid-lease.
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  • LEGAL to have limits as to how many nights in a row you can have someone stay, as this is often determined by how long before that guest legally gets tenant rights.
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  • HOWEVER, since your sister will be staying with you as a caregiver, you can probably have your doctor write a note to that effect. Medically-necessary caregivers are protected.
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  • ComradeSasquatch Yeah, they can't just arbitrarily impose new policies like that. They can only do what's written in the lease. Even then, it's only allowed if it doesn't contradict the law.
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  • Check your lease thoroughly. Contact a lawyer, or at least the housing authority in your area. They should be able to tell you if this is even legal. It could possibly get them in deep sh, if they're violating the law.
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