SALT LAKE CITY — Spencer Bloodworth opened the cabinet with the fire alarm and other utilities to show where mold had been growing.
The cabinet was in the laundry and exercise room of the Kensington Apartments — two blocks north of Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Bloodworth and his wife live there. Or they will for a while longer.
“The common area fee is about $40 a month,” Bloodworth explains.
Put another way, Bloodworth is paying a fee, on top of his rent, for a room the Salt Lake County Health Department confirmed had mold.
The Kensington is owned by an investment firm who hired one of the country’s largest management companies to run it. Fees are a feature of such ownership and management arrangements.
“We have seen that in markets where there is a large concentration of corporate landlords, that it's that is driven up rents,” said Jordan Ash, the housing and research campaign director for the Private Equity Stakeholder Project.
Ash is among those who believe corporate owners and managers are a factor driving up the cost of living as they control a big share of the rental market in Utah.
For example, Greystar, described by industry analysts as the country’s largest apartment management company, lists on its website about 45 apartment complexes from Ogden down to the St. George Area.
In 2022, researchers from the University of California published research describing landlords in recent years increasing the fees on their tenants in order to generate more revenue.
“Their playbook involves increasing rents, adding on fees as ways to increase the revenue,” Ash said.
Fees are just one way corporate landlords do business differently than moms and pops, said Angela McGuire, a board member at People’s Legal Aid, who has studied corporate rental ownership in Utah. Such companies employ software and other tools to figure out what they can charge.
“When you own a property with 100 units,” McGuire said, “or you own multiple properties, one unit being open and maybe holding it off the market until demand is higher might work out better for you.”
McGuire’s study also found research from other markets showing the number of eviction filings tend to increase under corporate ownership. Under moms and pops, McGuire said, if there’s an issue, “oftentimes tenants can work directly with owners and come to some sort of equitable solution.”
At the Kensington Apartments, Bloodworth and his wife pay $1,600 a month rent for a one-bedroom, 700-square-foot unit, in addition to the $40 common area fees.
Bloodworth rattled off the other fees on his monthly bill.
“And then $50 to have a cat here,” Bloodworth said.
“One hundred dollars for a garage.”
“Sixty-five dollars mandatory internet. You can't opt out of internet.”
“Six dollars and 50 cents service fee. I don't know what that's for.”
“One hundred thirty-six dollars last month for heat.”
“A $34 charge for sewer.”
“Thirty-five dollars charge for water.”
“And then an $18 charge for trash.”
Across the complex and upstairs, Karissa Valenzuela Nelson and her partner rent a two-bedroom apartment. By the time rent and fees are added, they usually pay $2,100 a month.
“I spent $170 for my gas bill,” Valenzuela Nelson said, “and I have no control over my gas at all.”
She explained how the complex groups utilities like gas and divides the total among all residents — even if some tenants burn less gas than others.
“There have been like times where I need my radiator,” Valenzuela Nelson said. “Like, my radiator is not working and no one's coming out.”
On the landing outside her door is junk such as old space heaters and air conditions that don’t belong to her and have been sitting there for months.
“Kind of filth everywhere,” she said.
Valenzuela Nelson provided photos of iced-over sidewalks and walkways from the winter, as well as a doctor bill for $386.97 after her partner slipped on the ice and hit his head.
As Bloodworth talked in the Kensington’s courtyard, a couple walked out of a basement. Bloodworth and other tenants say the pair had been living down there.
“They don't rent here,” Bloodworth said.
The Kensington, constructed in 1906, may be corporately owned and managed, but both companies are local.
Salt Lake City-based Preserve Partners bought the Kensington in 2019. Preserve’s website says it owns about 20 other apartment complexes.
On its website, Preserve describes itself as a “real estate investment firm” that is committed to “improving the lives of our residents.”
The Kensington is managed by Apartment Management Consultants, better known as AMC. From its headquarters in Cottonwood Heights, it’s one of the country’s major property management firms.
“Your rent is ending up going to Wall Street basically,” Ash said.
Many investment firms purchase apartments with financing from federally-backed Freddie Mac. Ash sees that as an avenue through with the policymakers or Congress can help renters.
“Since that's being subsidized by the taxpayers, (there) should be conditions in terms of how much they can increase rents,” Ash said.
Preserve declined to comment.
An AMC representative sent FOX 13 News an email. On the mold, AMC said the health department determined the issue was resolved and an AMC employee is monitoring for excess moisture at the Kensington.
The Kensington regularly cleans the common areas and locks have been added to the basement to prevent trespassing, the statement said. When a snowplow operator was unable to remove that ice, management worked to find a solution.
As for the fees, AMC pointed out tenants agree to them when they sign their leases.
“My lease is up in August and I will be moving out of here. 100%,” Valenzuela Nelson said.
“It's not easy to move,” she added. “You know, it's not cheap. It's time consuming.”
Bloodworth said he and his wife are moving to Wisconsin.
“It's very expensive to live here,” he said.
Denise George, a paralegal practitioner at People’s Legal Aid, said renters whose landlords are not addressing a maintenance or health concern can try a law called the Utah Fit Premises Act.
“The act provides, generally, that you prepare a specific notice for your landlord, and you serve it in a specific way,” George said.
If the landlord does not take action in a certain number of days, the renter is “permitted to deduct up to two months worth of rent to make the repairs yourself,” she added.
“And the biggest benefit of the Utah Fit Premises act,” George said, “in my opinion, is that it can protect you in a lawsuit.”
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