Appearing in the Vox member-only magazine, The Highlight, Abdallah Fayyad talks to Ariel Nelson about application fees, move-in fees,
convenience fees, administrative fees, key fees, broker fees, and more.
And how if you add them all up, moving to a new place might not seem so appealing, or even possible.
“It makes it really tricky for people who are looking for housing because they see an advertised price and they think, ‘Oh good, this is within my budget.’”
said Ariel Nelson, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC).
But after adding up all the fees, some renters realize the
cost is more than they had in mind. And some fees end up becoming recurring payments. That can cause renters to potentially fall behind on rent.
“What can happen is that these fees are part of what becomes rental debt and it could end up on their credit report as a debt collection item. We know that that is information that is then used to screen tenants
when they’re looking for housing, and if you have debt that’s owed to a former landlord, that’s often an automatic denial from landlords.”
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