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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

Equifax Security Breach Recommendations for Residents

Nearly half of Americans may have had their information stolen in the massive Equifax data breach revealed last week. Equifax collects, aggregates and distributes information on over 800 million individual consumers and more than 88 million businesses worldwide, including many multifamily companies. Entrata uses Experian for all resident screening and verification processes and does not interface with Equifax for any of their services.

Delinquencies: Managed

Entrata is updating our delinquency management tools to make chasing down those elusive unpaid balances that much easier.

multifamily apartment parcel package management nofications property solutions

Tracking Packages with ParcelAlert

As more and more residents opt for online shopping and home delivery, properties are struggling to keep up with the ever-increasing number of packages delivered to their offices. Receiving a package for a resident insures that it’s more secure than if it were left on a doorstep, but it can add a considerable logistical burden to property staff. One property estimated that it took personnel between 90 minutes and two hours to receive packages, log them in, and send resident notifications. Every day. Weekends were particularly challenging when only one person was in the office, and perhaps inevitably, they found themselves frequently dealing with lost packages, unclaimed shipments, and packages that weren’t logged correctly.

The Evolution of Performance Metrics: Changing the Multifamily Game

The apartment industry has always utilized data to some degree. But the metrics used in the past were often those of a general variety that nearly anyone could access, including broad regional trends and basic submarket data.

Cyber Security Essentials

Each October the Department of Homeland Security launches a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity. With news of data breaches increasing in both frequency and scale, we think it’s a great time to look at a few of the essentials that should be in place to keep your residents’ data safe and secure.

From the Summit: Balancing Financial Considerations with Demographic Demands

A Comprehensive Look at Resident Service Packages Currently, there are 44 million renters in the US. With the recent volatility in the economy, 60% of the US is actually living month-to-month. In an ideal world, renters would have a rent-to-income ratio around 30%, which for many is difficult. This is especially true if you live in more expensive cities like New York, where more than a third of renters pay more than 50% of their gross monthly income in rent, and that’s before you take into account an additional 5-10% of gross monthly income going toward ancillary fees.

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Compliance Update: Legislation Related to Fee Transparency

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