$30 here... $10 there. Houston area renters say landlords are pricing them out of their homes, tacking on fee after fee, adding hundreds of dollars to their monthly rent.
One renter in Spring, via our 2 Helps You, contacted 2 Investigates’ Amy Davis to ask if landlords can require tenants to pay for services they don’t want.
Can landlords add fees to rental agreements?
The short answer is yes, as long as the landlord discloses the fees before the tenant signs the lease.
But if you are staring at a new lease with a laundry list of fees you don’t want to pay, you need to hear this.
Adam Buchanan has made his Spring rental house home with his dog Millie, a comfy couch, and a TV set to stream his favorite shows.
“We really like our home. We think it’s great,” Buchanan said.
But when leasing and management company, Invitation Homes, sent him a new lease, it left a bitter taste.
“We don’t like being nickel and dimed out of our community,” he said.
On top of the base rent of $2,250, Invitation Homes added five other mandatory monthly fees.
- $40 pet fee per pet
- $40 smart home technology fee
- $9.95 air filter delivery fee
- $9.95 utility management fee
- New $85 internet package fee with AT&T
“It’s mandatory. You’ve got to get it, is pretty much what they said,” Buchanan said. “But I didn’t need it.”
“I already have AT&T, so why would I give them more money to get the same product I’m already using?” he added.
Invitation Homes is the largest owner of single-family rental homes in the country.
Previous complaints about added fees
Last year, the company paid the Federal Trade Commission $48 million to settle a lawsuit alleging deceptive practices, including advertising monthly rental rates that did not include what the FTC called mandatory “junk fees.”
In the FTC lawsuit, the complaint cites a 2019 email from Invitation Homes’ CEO calling on the senior vice president responsible for overseeing the company’s fee program to “juice this hog” by making the smart home fee mandatory for renters.
Monica Horton, who works with the Dallas Better Business Bureau (BBB) where Invitation Homes is headquartered, said the company’s accreditation was revoked last year.
This year, she said, of the 445 complaints they received about Invitation Homes, more than a third—137 complaints—were about fees.
Since the federal lawsuit, Invitation Homes is no longer hiding mandatory fees; they are all listed online.
An Invitation Homes spokesperson emailed, “Our services and their accompanying fees reflect our ability to provide residents with the additional benefits they want when renting.”
Invitation Homes is building a 156-home subdivision in Cypress- all rental homes.
Renter negotiates added fees
Back to Buchanan, who definitely does not want those fees.
He negotiated and stalled for two months, asking Invitation Homes to remove fees for services he didn’t need.
“The only way I got them to take it off is I said, ‘Do I need to get counsel so I can go over this with you guys so we can try and figure this out?’” Buchanan said. “And then when I said that I got this special lease that has been specifically edited just for our home.”
The new lease removed the smart home fee, air filter fee and internet package, saving him more than $1,600 over his one-year lease.
He wants other renters to know they should fight back.
“They should be fighting against anything that might be perceived as mandatory because it’s probably not,” Buchanan said.
Horton added, “Consumers need to realize the negotiation needs to take place prior to the lease being signed. Because once you sign that lease agreement, the lease will dictate who’s responsible for what fees.”
These fees are becoming standard practice from large companies that manage leases, both for apartments and homes.
So always look for them before you sign a lease. Landlords cannot add fees mid-lease.
More info: This company is gobbling up homes - some say making it more difficult for people to own homes. In June, the Company announced the launch of its developer lending program with a $32.7 million loan to a homebuilder for purposes of developing a 156-home community in Houston. The loan is secured by the development and its terms include an opportunity for the Company to acquire the community upon stabilization.
Full statement from Invitation Homes
“We are proud to provide a professional living option to a growing number of individuals who prefer the flexibility and choice associated with leasing. Our services and their accompanying fees reflect our ability to provide residents with the additional benefits they want when renting, such as smart homes and fast internet, pets in their homes, or the ease of landscaping and pest control services. When a resident signs a lease with us, all fees are clearly listed on the first page of the lease, with a total monthly obligation tallied at the bottom of the page. We also include full, detailed monthly costs for each listing on our website, as well as on third-party platforms like Zillow, Realtor.com , and other similar sites.”
-Invitation Homes spokesperson
Do you have a question you need help with? Contact KPRC 2 Investigator Amy Davis at ADavis@kprc.com.