The FTC’s Campaign Against Unfair Fees

April 9, 2026

The agency is asking for public comment on a broad rule that would add teeth to its enforcement efforts.

In the past two years, the Federal Trade Commission has filed two cases charging two of the nation’s largest landlords with deceptive and unfair rental fee practices. Now the consumer watchdog agency is seeking to broaden enforcement of the federal laws against such practices.

In asking for public comments on ways to protect renters from landlords who hide their fees or charge unjust amounts, the FTC is exploring whether an industry-wide rule is necessary to address hidden and misleading fees that inflate rents well beyond what is advertised and other “problematic fee practices” imposed throughout a lease lifecycle, from application to move-out.

The agency “is focused on addressing unlawful business conduct that obscures the actual cost of housing and undermines price competition,” said Christopher Mufarrige, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Rental pricing practices that are neither clear nor transparent undermine competition and harm consumers.”

The two cases brought by the FTC so far involve Invitation Homes and Greystar Real Estate Partners. Invitation is the country’s largest owner of single-family rentals. Greystar, the largest residential manager and owner of residential rental properties.

Both companies settled their cases with the FTC without admitting wrongdoing. Invitation agreed to pay $48 million to settle the allegations that it violated the FTC Act by, among other things, excluding mandatory monthly fees from the advertised rent. Greystar agreed to change its fee disclosure practices and pay $23 million in consumer redress to settle a lawsuit by the FTC and the State of Colorado that alleged the company misrepresented the true cost of renting a property and excluded mandatory fees from the advertised rent.

The failure to advertise the true total rent limits consumers’ ability to make informed financial decisions, increasing their search costs and exposing them to other negative monetary consequences when they take on more rent than they can afford, the FTC believes. Such practices also may undermine competition by weakening the incentives of rental housing providers who do advertise the true total rent, it suggests.

Why a broad rule?

While essential, case-by-case enforcement addresses only some aspects of the harmful fee practices in the rental housing industry, the FTC said. So, it’s moving on deciding whether a rule is needed to address fee practices. Such a rule also would serve as a deterrent against those practices because it would allow the agency to seek civil penalties against violators and more easily obtain redress for harmed consumers.

The first step in the process is to invite public comments, including written statements, data, evidence, analyses and arguments regarding rental charges. Specifically, the agency is asking:

* Do rental housing providers fail to clearly and conspicuously disclose or misrepresent the true total rent for a unit or property, including all mandatory fees or charges?

* Do rental providers fail to clearly and conspicuously disclose or misrepresent the nature, purpose, amount, refundability, optionality and recurrence of fees or charges?

* What practices do landlords engage in relating to application fees that harm consumers?

* What practices do they employ relative to security deposits that hurt consumers?

* What billing practices do they use that hurt tenants?

* What do they do that impedes consumer choice?

Once the comments are collected and reviewed, the FTC will decide whether to formulate a rule. If it does, it will publish the rule in the Federal Register inviting new comments. And once those are reviewed, it will decide whether to move forward with or without changes.