SALT LAKE CITY — Mallory Rutkoske moved out of an apartment building on 400 West just north of downtown Salt Lake City.
Then she got a bill.
When Rutkoske asked the basis for the bill, the apartment operator, South Carolina-based Greystar, forwarded her an invoice from a cleaning company.
“The cleaning fee, specifically, was not in the rental contract,” Rutkoske told FOX 13 News.
On Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission and the state of Colorado sued Greystar, the largest multi-family rental property manager in the United States. Utah and renters in the state were mentioned seven times in the complaint.
The lawsuit accuses the company of charging tenants “hidden fees.” The FTC defines those as charges not advertised in the rental price; tenants discover them after applying to live in a Greystar building.
“…between August 2019 and August 2022,” the complaint says, “Greystar collected more than $100 million in Hidden Fees from tenants at Greystar Managed Properties in California, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah alone.”
While the fees are disclosed in leases, the FTC alleges tenants don’t understand they are signing up to pay hundreds more than what was advertised.
“I agree that I'm going to pay $800 for rent, and then I show up to sign the lease, and then there's these mandatory fees that I have to pay, like cable TV, internet,” said Tara Rollins, the executive director of the Utah Housing Coalition.
Rollins and the Coalition have complained about “junk fees” for years.
She says such fees mean renters “can't budget. They can't say, ‘You know what, I'm going to cancel my cable.’”
The FTC lawsuit is filed in federal court in Denver, but gives examples from Utah, including screenshots.
At the Hamilton Crossing Complex in Riverton in May, the complaint says, Greystar advertised a three-bedroom unit “starting” at $2,300 per month. An applicant had to click multiple links before finding another $112 in monthly fees, and the FTC says even that wasn’t all a renter would be required to pay.
There are testimonials from renters in Sandy, Orem, and Salt Lake City about paying hundreds more monthly fees than anticipated.
Greystar has not filed a response in court, but stated on its website reading, in part:
“The FTC’s complaint targets a longstanding industrywide practice of advertising base rent to potential residents. the idea that this is done with the goal of hiding fees from consumers is patently false. No resident at a Greystar-managed community pays a fee they have not seen and agreed to in their lease.”
The FTC and Colorado are asking a judge to ban Greystar from the practices they describe and to award damages to Greystar tenants.
Rollins would like the Utah Legislature to pass a law to clarify fees have to be included in the advertised rent price. She’d also like Utah Attorney General Derek Brown to sign onto the FTC lawsuit. A spokeswoman for his office on Friday said Brown has not yet been asked to join and is reviewing the complaint.
Rutkoske took Greystar to small claims court. She won when no one representing the company showed up for the trial.
Then, after the trial, “I get an email from a debt collector saying I owed money to Greystar still,” Rutkoske said.
Rutkoske is disputing the bill with the collection agency.
“So, about $147 is what I won in court,” she added. “They’re asking for me for $240. So, these are small beans, but worth it.”