Can the income of both tenants be a total of 3x the rent? (apartment)

[Esskay]

I live in a 1 bedroom on the 3rd floor with another roommate, but a friend on the second floor has a two bedroom apartment and her second room just opened up. I'm trying submit an application for that second bedroom but my apartment manager is saying that we each need to make 3x the total rent - which doesn't make sense because we are splitting the rent. I was under the impression that the total household income needs to equal 3x the rent. Her income and my income combined does equal 3x the rent but he is not accepting that.

Funny because before this predicament, he had told me that both tenants need to equal 3x the rent, and now he says he does not recall that conversation.. How convenient loll

I think they are trying to give her a hard time to make her leave because she is in a rent controlled building and her rent is very low as she's been in that unit for a long time.. We think they want her out so they can increase the rent to new tenants. Giving a very hard time approving anyone and they know she can't afford the total rent on her own.

Any advice??

Thanks!!

[CALGUY]

Obviously the landlord has done some research regarding rent controlled property, and will not evict this tenant if that is at all possible.
The landlord would rather she move voluntarily
He/She knows if it comes down to an eviction, they can't raise the rent.

What the landlord doesn't seem to understand is eventually, if that tenant can't afford the rent, the eviction process will need to be initiated.
My advice to you would be to forget about moving in with that tenant.

Bob.

[Aldous9]

Landlords can set any metric they want. To be honest, I've never had a landlord tell me that my income must be 3x the monthly rent. I've only ever seen that figure on the Internet.