The Biden administration on Wednesday announced its latest effort to address \u201cjunk fees\u201d people face when trying to rent an apartment. These costs, which often come as a surprise, include application fees, administrative fees, parking fees, and even pet fees.<\/p>\n
\u201cFolks are tired of being played for suckers,\u201d President Biden said.<\/p>\n
As part of the anti-junk fee campaign, several states issued new rules around these fees, and Zillow, the online real-estate marketplace, introduced a \u201ccost of renting summary\u201d that runs through all the fees a renter can expect to pay. The platform already showed extra prices and fees on listings, but the \u201ccost of renting summary\u201d is new, a spokesperson said. Apartments.com and AffordableHousing.com have also committed to making rental costs more transparent in the initial search.<\/p>\n
\n \u201c<\/span>Several states issued new rules around rental junk fees, and Zillow introduced a \u2018cost of renting summary\u2019 for renters.\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Transparency surrounding these fees is not the same as removing them, rental housing advocates say. \u201cWe\u2019re thrilled the Biden administration is talking about junk fees in the rental housing context,\u201d said Ariel Nelson, a staff attorney with the National Consumer Law Center.<\/p>\n But the new measures announced by rental-listing sites also have their limitations. \u201cDisclosures, standing alone, are kind of a weak form of protection for consumers. They don\u2019t do anything to lessen or eliminate the fees,\u201d Nelson added.<\/p>\n Rental junk fees include \u201chold fees: ahead of a move-in, \u201cpayment-processing fees\u201d for monthly rent, \u201clate fees\u201d for those who are late on their rent, \u201cinsurance fees\u201d and \u201chigh-risk fees\u201d for certain tenants who may have a low credit score, a short or no rental history, or even a criminal record, according to a National Consumer Law Center report this year.<\/p>\n The White House also revealed a list of U.S. states that have recently enacted legislation to help either stamp out rental junk fees, or at least be more upfront about them. Those states include Colorado, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Connecticut, Maine, Montana and California.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some states already have strict caps on application fees. In Virginia, the application fee is limited to $50. In Washington, any application fee has to equal the cost of a tenant screening. Meanwhile, Vermont and Massachusetts already prohibit rental-application fees. (But there are finder\u2019s fees that brokers can charge in Massachusetts.)<\/p>\n Nelson said the action taken by states is, in some way, a double-edge sword. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to see language legitimizing these tools that come with so many problems,\u201d she said, referring to credit-score checks and tenant screening when people apply for rental housing.<\/p>\n \n \u201c<\/span>\u2018We don\u2019t want to see language legitimizing these tools that come with so many problems.\u2019\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p>\n Several U.S. states help in the fight against rental junk fees\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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