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Compliance Update: Legislation Related to Fee Transparency

Federal and State legislation is targeting deceptive fee practices across industries, the rental housing industry being one of those affected. This includes the White House proposal for a Renters Bill of Rights (discussed further below) and weighing in heavily on the discussion of Junk Fees with the FTC’s proposed rule on “Unfair and Deceptive Fees”.

At the state level these measures are taken even further with California being among the loudest and most active. Additional states include Minnesota SF 2909 (discussed in our Q3 Compliance & Legislation Update blog post), Virginia HB 967 and HB 1519, and pending legislation with Illinois HB 4629.

Below we discuss the active and pending state level legislation in California and Virginia, as well as the federal level legislation as it applies to housing and the important legislative actions taking

Compliance Update: Legislation Related to Fee Transparency

Clearing the Clutter: Simplifying Student Turn

Why does turn week make so many student housing operators and community managers cringe? The way Mark Zikra, Director of Systems Compliance at CA Ventures, put it at Entrata Summit, “A lot of the pain comes with organization, knowing what’s accurate and up to date as far as turn goes. Drinking cases of red bull, not sleeping for three days….” Dry erase boards and sticky notes with move-in notes and check lists clutter property offices. And, matching roommates is often a high risk task that ends with at least one unsurprising disaster. Historically, multifamily software just wasn’t made to handle student housing.

Screen Your Screening Tool

The Key Components of a Verification Platform Leasing teams spend the bulk of their time aiming to attract residents to their communities. But equally important is making certain that those prospective residents will live up to the terms of their lease.

The Rise of the Chatbot

Let’s face it. It’s a matter of when and not if chatbots become part of the everyday backdrop in the apartment world. But if the early advent of chatbots has taught us anything, it’s that the tech has to be consistent for it to be effective.

Affordable Housing vs. Housing Affordability

What changes need to be made to ensure everyone has access to, quality housing at a price they can afford In recent years, population growth in urban areas has far exceeded multifamily housing development, leading to rising rents and a shortage of affordable housing. Because of this, affordable housing has been a hot topic among citizens and politicians alike, but there is a lot of confusion in this area as to what constitutes affordable housing as opposed to housing affordability.

Resident Screening: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You.

Most properties have some sort of screening process to check out an applicant’s credit rating and/or rental history before allowing them to sign a lease. It’s a sad fact that it’s often better to identify and avoid a bad resident in the first place rather than try to remove one after they’ve already moved in.

The Shifting Expectations of Applicant Verification

In the past, waiting a week to see if you qualified for an apartment was part of the territory for an applicant. But so was the inability to track the progress of a package shipment, or the need to wait for the rerun of your favorite show if you missed the original broadcast.

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Compliance Update: Legislation Related to Fee Transparency

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