President Biden and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia L. Fudge announced commitments by major rental housing search platforms, including Zillow, Apartments.com and AffordableHousing.com, to increase transparency of housing fees.
These platforms will provide new tools to help renters determine the all-in price of a desired unit and comparison shop more easily, according to a July 19 news release. Fudge called for action on junk fees in the housing industry, emphasizing the administration's commitment to lower costs for renters and create a fairer, more transparent rental housing marketplace.
“Too often, renters are hit with unexpected fees on top of their rent. Today’s announcement shows the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to lower costs for renters and build a fairer, more transparent rental housing marketplace,” Fudge said in the release.
New research was released that highlights and summarizes state and local innovation to address junk fees, as well as new commitments from several of the largest rental housing search platforms to increase housing fee transparency, the release reported. Due to a lack of housing options nationwide, renter households frequently already spend an increasing percentage of their income on rent.
Rental fees can add to these financial problems, according to the release.
In an open letter to the housing industry dated March 8, Fudge joined Biden in calling for an end to the junk fees that renters must pay and urged action on the issue, the release said. The most vulnerable Americans are the ones who bear the brunt of these levies, which reduce market competition and drive up consumer expenses.
The release detailed how renters may experience a significant burden from such payments. For instance, the cost of a rental application can be up to $100 or more, and, more crucially, it frequently exceeds the real expense of running the background and credit checks. These application costs might mount up to hundreds of dollars given that potential tenants sometimes submit many applications for different apartments during their housing hunt.
Zillow, Apartments.com and AffordableHousing.com – three of the biggest online rental platforms – heeded the call and declared they will offer new tools to make it easier for tenants to compare properties and figure out the all-in cost of a preferred apartment, the release said.
Apartments.com announced it will introduce a new calculator on its platform that will help renters determine the all-in price of a desired unit, and AffordableHousing.com, the nation's largest online platform exclusively for affordable housing, will mandate owners to disclose all refundable and non-refundable fees and charges upfront in their listings. Zillow is also launching a Cost of Renting Summary on its active apartment listings, the release reported.
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research also unveiled a new brief that highlights state, local and private sector initiatives to promote fairness and transparency in the rental market, including steps to rein in excessive or unfair application fees and restrict permitted fees and deposits at the time of move-in or lease signing, according to the release.
