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Junk Fees Are Putting Coloradans in Debt. Legislation May Be Coming to Help.

"This is effectively a hidden and deceptive corporate tax imposed on working people."
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Greystar, which managed failed luxury apartment complex the Grand, is one of many landlords being called out for charging renters "junk" fees. Instagram @notsogranddenver
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Jade Smith's Housing Choice Voucher covers rent at her Denver apartment and a utility stipend for her Xcel Energy bills, but she still owes her complex over $200. That's because Smith's apartment complex, like many others in Denver, charges "junk" fees beyond utilities and rent.

According to Smith, her complex charges her $180 per month for line items such as pest control, real estate tax, common area maintenance and processing fees. Because Smith is still working through the paperwork to establish a disability income due to her spinal fusion and post-traumatic stress, she only makes $224 per month doing odd jobs.

The lease for her southeast Denver apartment only hints at those charges through a clause saying she may be charged for “other” services beyond rent and utilities. Worse, Smith says she isn’t seeing services rendered for fees she’s going into debt to cover. Her apartment's property managers have failed to address bugs, the community trash overflows regularly and her neighbors with children don’t let their kids play in common areas for fear they will step on glass, according to Smith.

“It's not a safe environment,” she says.

According to the tenant organizing group Denver Metro Tenants Union (DMTU), Smith isn’t the only person who qualifies for a Housing Choice Voucher from the Denver Housing Authority and other government agencies but gets hit with fees beyond what their voucher or utility allowance covers.

“The voucher program never anticipated these extra fees and is not designed to pay them,” Eida Altman of DMTU says in a statement. “These renters don’t have other expenses to cut back on to make up for this unexpected monthly cost. ...Because that tenant cannot pay, they receive $50 in late fees. Now they are racking up $200 or more a month in debt which, if reported as a collection on their credit, could hinder their ability to rent another unit in the future.”
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Denver Metro Tenants Union is working with tenants at the Cedar Run apartments who are charged for pest control but still have bugs.
Cedar Run tenants

Most of these extra fees are not disclosed to tenants until they have applied and been assured their voucher will work at a property, according to DMTU. Plus, leases are often over 75 pages long and are difficult for tenants to wade through.

East Colfax Community Collective, an advocacy group fighting displacement in east Denver and Aurora, has also seen many people dealing with these fees, according to housing manager Emily Goodman.

“People who are in this situation are just put between a rock and a hard place, essentially, and can't escape,” Goodman says. “I would say it comes up for a good chunk of folks with Housing Choice Vouchers.”

Federal pandemic relief funding was available for rental assistance in 2021 and 2022, allowing East Colfax Community Collective to point people to nonprofit or government organizations that could provide funds to cover the extra fees. Now, funding is scarcer and most rental assistance groups require a court summons for an eviction to qualify for aid.

However, Denver law doesn’t allow voucher tenants to be served eviction notices for nonpayment of utilities, so the many tenants paying with vouchers can't find help, according to Goodman and Altman. Both Smith and fellow Denver renter Mary Collins tried to apply for help with their fees, only to be rejected because they don't have a court summons.

The Denver Department of Housing Stability recently amended its Temporary Rental & Utility Assistance program to accept rent demand letters as a qualifying document without a court summons, but Smith says she still isn’t sure she'll qualify.

Collins's situation became dire after racking up $800 in late fees at her northeast Denver apartment.

Whenever Collins tried to pay her utility bill, her payment was rejected because she only had enough to cover her electric and gas bills through her utility allowance. Her building won’t let her make partial payments, though, so she was charged late fees.

Collins borrowed money from relatives to pay the difference, but says working back those debts hasn’t been easy as she uses an oxygen tank, has spinal arthritis and recently broke her left ankle. She is applying for disability to help with her costs.

Collins says she wasn’t informed when she signed her lease that the fees wouldn’t be covered by her vouchers.

“They didn't give it to me until afterwards, and it was, like, a month after, I believe, and then I see it in my mailbox,” she says of the extra fees, which include a maintenance charge and pest control fee.

She says she has repeatedly asked for pest services in her unit and has had a broken faucet for months, so she’s not sure where the fee money is going. Collins has returned to cleaning houses to pay her bills despite her health.

“You got to do what you got to do to survive,” she says.

So far, tenants have been told to individually troubleshoot with the Denver Housing Authority — without much luck. Loretta Owens, director of the Housing Choice Voucher Program with DHA, says DHA doesn’t believe the problem is widespread as most buildings accepting vouchers are “mom and pop” operations.
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An example of the extra fees renters pay beyond utilities.
Denver Metro Tenants Union
Owens says DHA tries to negotiate with providers to include the extra fees in rent so the voucher program will cover those costs. For extra fees beyond utilities and rent, DHA works to be sure those fees are being charged to all tenants, not just those with Housing Choice Vouchers, she adds.

“That's been primarily our focus is making sure that it's uniform; they're not just charging these fees to someone who's on a voucher,” Owens says. “When it comes to those extraordinary fees, like those unexpected storage fees, for example, or things of that nature, we do ask that the tenants carefully review the lease prior to accepting the unit so that they are fully aware of the cost.”

Goodman argues that DHA shouldn’t approve leases with fees attached because they put families at risk of debt, but Owens says DHA wants to give people more freedom in choosing where to live. According to Owens, some families may decide a unit with extra fees suits their needs best.

Still, both agree that fees should be clearly disclosed before a tenant signs their lease.

“It hurts,” Owens says. “They're choosing this unit for very specific reasons, and if they don't know about those fees that can have a huge impact to their monthly living, ability to function and manage their household.”

Legislation may be coming to ensure fees are disclosed, however.


Colorado Legislation Could Require Fee Disclosure

East Colfax Community Collective, DMTU and nonprofit law firm Towards Justice are pushing lawmakers to pass a bill this legislative session that would require disclosure of all fees upfront while also clarifying that certain fees are illegal under state law.

“This is a problem experienced by everybody, whether you're a renter, whether you are buying concert tickets, whether you're purchasing new hotel reservations,” says Towards Justice executive director David Seligman. “Everywhere, people are squeezed and nickeled and dimed and, often, burdened by fees that will be surprising, that may not emerge until the end of the transaction.”

The state legislature passed a bill last year requiring concert and event ticket sellers to disclose fees upfront. The 2025 bill proposed by the three groups would expand on that work to legally require fee disclosure for all goods and services.

Specific to rentals, any extra utility costs would have to be disclosed clearly and early rather than grouped under an addendum, ancillary document, or “other” clause, according to the pending legislation.

“It is already illegal under Colorado law to deceive people, to deceive consumers, deceive workers, to deceive others about the true cost of a good or service,” Seligman says. “That is already illegal,  but there's just massive noncompliance. …This is effectively a hidden and deceptive corporate tax imposed on working people.”

Fees for security, valet trash, pest control, common area maintenance or utilities, real estate and property taxes are common in the retail space. Seligman calls them “absolutely pervasive."

Towards Justice is currently representing renters in a class action lawsuit against corporate landlord Greystar, which operates properties in Colorado, for allegedly charging tenants tens of thousands of dollars in illegal fees. Seligman says Towards Justice’s work is familiar with Smith and Collins’s experiences: often, landlords charge fees for services they aren’t even providing, such as maintenance fees without actually maintaining anything.

“The junk fee bill is really addressing a lot of these additional charges that landlords are trying to pass off to tenants rather than paying for that themselves,” Goodman says. “Some of it is for warranty of habitability–applicable things. …They should not be charging tenants to just provide a habitable unit. That's not a cost that's supposed to be, or intended to be, passed off on a tenant.”

Goodman says East Colfax Community Collective regularly sees property taxes passed on to tenants, too. The organization maintains that these are the costs of doing business, and companies should not be able to avoid paying them by charging renters more.

“I'm so excited, in general, for all renters, because the amount of excessive fees that some landlords are getting away with charging is truly, honestly unbelievable,” Goodman says. “It’s truly a bill for the people. Things have gotten so out of control I’m hoping we can rein it in at least a little bit.”

The bill, called Protections Against Deceptive Pricing Practices, was introduced in the House Judiciary Committee on January 23. It is sponsored by state Representatives Emily Sirota and Naquetta Ricks and Senators Mike Weissman and Lisa Cutter.