Report updates state and local efforts to address rental housing junk fees and provides recommendations to protect tenants
WASHINGTON – Tenants across the country face a dizzying array of junk fees that cost them hundreds of millions of dollars a year. An updated report from the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) shows that despite inaction at the federal level, state and local governments are fighting predatory rental housing junk fees.
“What the Heck, Dude:” How States Can Fight Rental Housing Junk Fees shows that state and local governments continue to pass laws and bring enforcement actions to curb rental housing junk fees.
“Rental housing junk fees push affordable housing further out of reach for tenants,” said Ariel Nelson, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center and co-author of the report. “Thankfully, state and local governments across the country have stepped up to protect tenants from these exploitative and excessive fees.”
Since NCLC first published its report in September 2024, three additional states have passed legislation to limit the impact of rental housing junk fees, and two others have refined their approaches. More than 20 states have regulated rental housing junk fees. In addition, several local governments have passed ordinances, and both private and government lawyers are using litigation to hold landlords and property management companies accountable for unlawful junk fees-related practices.
“Junk fees disproportionately harm people of color and lower income people who are more likely to be renters and struggle to find and maintain affordable housing,” said Steve Sharpe, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center and co-author of the report. “This updated report should encourage more state and local governments to prohibit all fees that are not modest, reasonable, and proportionate to the actual cost incurred by the housing provider.”
Related Resources
- Too Damn High: How Junk Fees Add to Skyrocketing Rents, March 13, 2023
- Digital Denials: How Abuse, Bias, and Lack of Transparency in Tenant Screening Harm Renters, September 26, 2023
- Unfair Debts With No Way Out: Consumers Share Their Experiences With Rental Debt Collectors, October 7, 2022
- Mission Creep: a Primer on Use of Credit Reports & Scores for Non-Credit Purposes, August 3, 2022
- Even the Catch-22s Come With Catch-22s: Potential Harms & Drawbacks of Rent Reporting, March 6, 2024
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