Rental Junk Fee Laws 2026: What Managers Can Charge and Advertise

There is still no federal rule that lists which fees a long-term landlord may charge, but the Federal Trade Commission already treats advertising a rent that leaves out mandatory fees as deceptive, and it opened a rental fee rulemaking on March 13, 2026.¹ The binding rules today are state rules: Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Nevada and Maine require the advertised or leased rent to include mandatory fees or put them in a signed total, Illinois adds a first-page fee rule and a list of banned fees for new leases, and California, Rhode Island and North Dakota ban specific charges such as fees for paying by check or for serving notices.^2345678910

This guide covers what each rule says, what a compliant listing and fee schedule look like, and a fee audit you can run this quarter. It is not legal advice, and cities can add their own rules. Track new laws at /changes and look up your state at /states.

The federal picture

Section 5 of the FTC Act

Section 5 declares "unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce" unlawful.¹¹ It has no fee schedule. The FTC uses it case by case, and an act is unfair only if it causes substantial injury that consumers cannot reasonably avoid and that is not outweighed by benefits to consumers or competition.¹¹

The FTC has used Section 5 against two national rental operators. In FTC v. Invitation Homes (N.D. Ga., order entered September 27, 2024), the agency alleged the company left mandatory monthly fees out of advertised rent and misrepresented deposit deductions; the order requires advertising total rent including all mandatory fees and $48 million in consumer redress.¹ On December 2, 2025, the FTC announced that Greystar would pay $24 million to settle a joint FTC and Colorado suit, filed in January 2025, alleging it advertised low rents and added fixed, mandatory monthly fees late in the sales process.¹² Of that amount, $23 million is consumer redress and $1 million goes to Colorado, and the order requires Greystar to show the total monthly leasing price prominently and to disclose each fee's amount, purpose and whether it is mandatory.¹²¹

Neither order binds your company. Both show what the FTC calls deceptive: a headline rent that a renter cannot actually pay.

The 2025 fees rule covers short-term stays, not leases

The FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, 16 CFR part 464, was published January 10, 2025 and took effect May 12, 2025.¹³¹⁴ It applies only to "covered" goods and services: live-event tickets and "short-term lodging, including temporary sleeping accommodations at a hotel, motel, inn, short-term rental, vacation rental, or other place of lodging."¹⁴ For those, any advertised price must show the total price, the total must be more prominent than other pricing information, and fees cannot be misrepresented.¹⁴ Government charges, shipping and truly optional add-ons can be left out of the total.¹⁴

Rental housing was left out on purpose. Apartment trade groups asked to be excluded, tenant advocates asked to be included, and the FTC wrote that it "does not intend to cover rental housing providers at this time."¹³ It added that a short-term extension of a lease, or corporate housing offered on the same terms as long-term leases, typically would not count as short-term lodging, while a hotel's discounted extended stay typically would.¹³

If you manage vacation rentals, the rule applies to those listings now. Mandatory cleaning, service and booking fees belong inside the displayed price. Part 464 also does not override state laws that protect consumers more.¹⁴

The 2026 rental housing fee rulemaking

The FTC published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) titled "Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Rental Housing Fee Practices" on March 13, 2026, at 91 FR 12325.¹¹⁵ Comments closed April 13, 2026, and the docket lists more than 3,000 comments.¹ The notice names fees the agency says are spreading, including technology, smart home, trash, pest control, administrative, community, convenience, payment processing and month-to-month fees.¹

The questions show where a rule could land. The FTC asked whether total rent should include all mandatory recurring fees, whether one-time fees such as application, holding and administration fees should be built in or shown as a total move-in cost, whether total rent must be the most prominent price, and whether to amend part 464 or write a new part.¹ It said a rule would allow it to seek civil penalties and make consumer redress easier to obtain, which its current case-by-case authority makes difficult.¹

An ANPRM is not a rule. A search of the Federal Register on October 7, 2026 found no proposed rule following it.¹ More on federal rules at /federal.

State all-in pricing and fee disclosure laws

These states have the clearest statutory rules on how rent and fees must be shown. The common thread: the number in your ad and on page one of the lease must be a number the tenant can actually pay.

Colorado goes furthest. Since January 1, 2026, anyone who advertises a price must show the total "as a single number" and more prominently than any other pricing information, and must not misrepresent a charge's refundability, purpose or recipient.² The actual cost a utility provider charges for the unit may stay outside the total.² A violation is a deceptive trade practice, and the law lets a tenant send a written demand for reimbursement before suing.²

Connecticut bars advertising a unit at a rent that excludes any fee the tenant must pay periodically, and a fee charged monthly by default counts even if the tenant can opt out.³ Five things may stay outside the advertised rent: a processing fee at actual cost when a fee-free payment method exists, pet fees or deposits, submetered or direct-billed variable utilities, damage charges beyond normal wear and tear, and separate service charges such as a lockout or key replacement.³ Payments go to rent first. A violation costs one month's rent plus possible attorney's fees.³

Minnesota requires every nonoptional fee to be in the lease, with the sum of rent and those fees labeled the "Total Monthly Payment" on the first page.⁴ Ads must disclose the nonoptional fees included in the total, and both ads and leases must say whether utilities are included.⁴ The rule applies to leases signed on or after January 1, 2024, and violations carry treble damages.¹⁶⁴

Nevada's AB 121 was approved June 3, 2025 as chapter 227 and has no special effective date, so it took effect October 1, 2025 under Nevada's default rule.¹⁹¹⁷ Everywhere a landlord lists rent, and in the lease, rent must be "a single figure representing the maximum total amount of periodic rent" including mandatory fees, and the landlord cannot charge more than that figure.⁵ The narrow exception lets electric, gas or water be billed at cost when the utility cannot contract with the tenant directly, or water in a master-metered building, flagged by an asterisk at least half the size of the rent figure with an explanation on the same page.⁵ A tenant who wins a suit recovers damages, fees and $250 per violation involving deception.⁵

Maine requires a written total price disclosure, signed by both sides before the lease, listing rent, mandatory recurring fees, optional recurring fees, utility costs and any other cost.⁶ Without the landlord's signed copy, the lease is unenforceable. Optional recurring fees need written notice that the tenant may opt in and stop paying at any time, and increases to mandatory recurring fees need 45 days' written notice, the same as most rent increases.⁶

Illinois adds Section 35 to its Landlord and Tenant Act. Every non-optional fee, one-time or recurring, must appear on page one of the lease or the tenant is not liable for it, and listings must disclose those fees clearly or through an accompanying weblink.⁷ Renaming a fee does not avoid the rule. It applies to leases entered after the effective date, except owner-occupied buildings with six or fewer units.⁷ The dates conflict on the state's own site: section 99 of the enrolled text says the act takes effect July 1, 2026, while the public act page lists an effective date of January 1, 2027.⁷ The cautious approach is to use compliant forms for any Illinois lease signed after July 1, 2026, rather than wait for the later date.

Bans on specific fees

Disclosure is not the only rule. A growing list of fees is banned outright, however clearly it is shown.

Fees for paying rent. Rhode Island bars convenience fees on rent unless the landlord also accepts a fee-free payment method.⁹ Illinois requires a paper check, cash or another fee-free option when a third-party portal charges a fee, for leases executed after January 1, 2025.²⁰ Nevada requires at least one method with no fee that does not require bank account details (a check is allowed), bars marking up a portal's fee, and requires any portal fee to be identified in the lease.⁵ Colorado bans payment processing fees when a cost-free method is not reasonably accessible.²

Fees for paying by check or cash. North Dakota bars any fee to accept cash, a check or a money order for rent or any other lease payment, under a 2025 law (HB 1610, signed April 1, 2025) codified at N.D.C.C. 47-16-20.1.¹⁰²¹ California's SB 611, approved September 19, 2024, bars charging a tenant any fee for paying rent or a deposit by check.⁸

Fees for serving notices. The same California law bars a landlord or agent from charging a tenant for "serving, posting, or otherwise delivering any notice," with the eviction-code version operative February 1, 2025.⁸ Illinois will ban fees for eviction notices or eviction filings before the court grants an order, though court costs remain recoverable.⁷

Illinois's junk fee list. For covered leases, Illinois bans fees for lease renewal or modification, after-hours maintenance requests, contacting the owner or manager, maintenance travel, maintenance hotlines, routine upkeep, pest abatement the tenant did not cause, and move-in or move-out walkthroughs.⁷

Colorado's list. Since January 1, 2026, Colorado bans fees tied to property taxes, common area maintenance, anything needed to meet the landlord's own obligations including habitability, goods or services not actually provided, utility charges above the provider's charge (with a narrow statutory exception), late fees on amounts that are not rent, and fees that rise more than 2 percent during a lease of one year or less.²

Move-in totals. Maine caps what a tenant must pay up front at the first full month's rent, the security deposit and properly disclosed mandatory recurring fees.⁶

Application fee caps

Application fees are their own category, and the rules split three ways: caps, refund duties and bans. Compare all states at /laws/application-fee-limits-by-state.

• Illinois caps application and background check fees at $50 for covered leases. A landlord may pass on a higher third-party cost only if it pays first and bills the applicant with receipts within 14 days.⁷
• Virginia caps the application fee at $50 plus actual third-party screening costs, and at $32 plus those costs for HUD-regulated units. From July 1, 2027, landlords must disclose fees, refundability and screening criteria before collecting any payment or information.²²
• Nevada requires refunding application, credit or background fees when you rent to someone else and never ran the check, and bars those fees for minors in the applicant's household.⁵

What a compliant listing and fee schedule look like

A listing built this way is designed to meet the strictest of these rules: one total number first, the breakdown second, utilities stated plainly, and optional items labeled as optional.

Listing example (illustrative numbers):

$1,985 per month total rent. Includes base rent and all required monthly fees (trash, pest control, technology package). Electricity is billed directly to you by the utility. Optional: reserved parking $50 per month, pet rent $35 per month per pet. One-time costs before move-in: application fee $45 per adult, security deposit $1,850. Full fee schedule: [link].

In Colorado, keep the $1,985 as one number and make it the most prominent price on the page.² In Nevada, that same figure must appear in the lease, and any utility pass-through needs the asterisk notice.⁵ In Minnesota, the ad must disclose which nonoptional fees the total includes.⁴

Fee schedule example:

Check each line against state law before using it. Colorado and Illinois ban some of these categories outright (Colorado bars common area maintenance fees, and Illinois bars pest control fees where the tenant did not cause the infestation), so a fee that is fine in one state can be unlawful in another.²⁷ Virginia also requires its statutory wording directly above the itemized charges on page one of the lease.¹⁸

Fee audit checklist

Run this before your next listing refresh and lease form update. Put the effective dates on your /playbooks/compliance-calendar.

1. Export every fee from your lease forms, listings, syndication feeds and resident ledger. Include fees charged by vendors on your behalf.
2. Tag each fee as mandatory or optional, recurring or one-time. A fee charged by default counts as mandatory in Connecticut even if the tenant can opt out.³
3. Rebuild advertised rent as one total that includes every mandatory recurring fee in Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota and Nevada, and Illinois for covered leases.²³⁴⁵⁷
4. Check syndicated listings. The total must show wherever rent is listed, not only on your own site.⁵³
5. Move fees to page one of the lease in Minnesota, Illinois and Virginia, and use Connecticut's summary form as page one.⁴⁷¹⁸³
6. Strike banned fees: Illinois's list, Colorado's list, check and cash fees in North Dakota and California, and notice-serving fees in California.⁷²¹⁰⁸
7. Offer a free payment method and remove portal markups in Rhode Island, Illinois, Nevada and Colorado.⁹²⁰⁵²
8. Recheck application fees against caps and refund rules, and stop charging minors in Nevada.⁷²²⁵
9. Add Maine's signed total price disclosure to the lease packet, and confirm optional fees are opt-in.⁶
10. Review short-term rental listings under 16 CFR part 464.¹⁴
11. Watch the FTC docket for a proposed rule and the /changes feed for new state laws.¹

For leasing teams, add the total-rent script to /playbooks/tenant-lead-to-lease, and review fees at renewal with /playbooks/lease-renewal.

What to do now

• Treat the total monthly price as the only rent you quote, in ads, in emails and on the phone. That is what the all-in pricing laws above and both FTC orders require.¹²¹
• Treat Illinois leases signed after July 1, 2026 as covered by Section 35, given the conflicting dates on the state site.⁷
• Plan for a federal proposal that resembles part 464 applied to rentals. The FTC asked directly whether to extend that rule.¹