DENVER — The rent at Cedar Run apartments in Denver seemed reasonable when Latosca Holts moved in last year.
"I thought I would be paying $1,350, and at first I thought it was great," she said.
Then, she got the bill for what Cedar Run called "utilities," which included fees for pest control, real estate taxes and a service fee.
"Service fee is paying them to pay them, and then I have to go online and pay another platform fee of $3.95. So I'm paying $10 to them to pay my bill," said Holts. "I think it's a bunch of junk, to be honest with you."
She said her "utility" bill fees vary from $120 to $185.
Her apartment complex is owned by California-based Gelt Venture Partners, which did not respond to Denver7 Investigates' request for comment.
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Tenant advocates said this fee practice is all too common, often written into boilerplate leases used by many out-of-state corporate landlords.
"When you add all of those fees up, we're seeing fees between $150 to $250 a month," said Eida Altman with the Denver Metro Tenants Union.
According to Altman, these fees are putting tenants into debt and obscuring the true price of rent.
"Because it's been moved into the fine print. So those of us who are working on these issues and policymakers are not even dealing with the real numbers," she said.
Denver7 Investigates is tracking multiple junk fee lawsuits in Colorado, including a class action case against the mega real estate company Greystar.
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Meanwhile, lawmakers want more protections against consumers. State Rep. Emily Sirota (D) Denver is co-sponsoring a bill to regulate junk fees.
"What we're requiring is upfront, transparent pricing. It's just disclosure," said Sirota.
Sirota said the bill would have tenant-specific protections, including banning fees beyond actual utility costs and banning administrative fees not related to rent.
In a statement to Denver7 Investigates, the Colorado Apartment Association said it was "deeply concerned about any legislation that would seek to enact additional regulations and costs on Colorado's housing providers without getting input from those who will be affected by it."
Full statement:
"We were not consulted on this legislation and are currently reviewing it. We are deeply concerned about any legislation that would seek to enact additional regulations and costs on Colorado’s housing providers without getting input from those who will be affected by it. What’s true in every housing market across the country is true in Colorado: more regulations mean higher costs for renters."
But renters like Holtz are hoping to see more transparency from their landlords.
"I'm going to speak freely really quick. I think a lot of it is frankly bull****, and they're just doing it to make a profit, and they don't care about people's living situations," she said. "That's the bottom line is my family's happiness or having a roof over my head at the end of the day."
