“A bill to prohibit owners of covered dwelling units from assessing or collecting certain fees from tenants, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section defines terms used in the Act, including (1) "appropriate regulator," meaning specified federal housing officials (i.e., HUD, VA, USDA, or FHFA secretaries or directors) depending on the type of covered dwelling unit and associated federally backed mortgage; (2) "covered dwelling unit," meaning a unit receiving HUD assistance or subject to a federally backed single-family or multifamily mortgage loan; (3) "Federally backed single-family mortgage loan," meaning specified FHA-insured, VA- or USDA-guaranteed or insured, or Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac-purchased or securitized loans secured by 1-to-4 family residential properties (including condominiums and cooperatives); (4) "Federally backed multifamily mortgage loan," meaning federally made, insured, guaranteed, assisted, or GSE-purchased or securitized loans (other than temporary construction financing) secured by properties designed for 5 or more families; and (5) "owner," meaning any private person or entity (including cooperatives, federal agencies, or public housing agencies) with the legal right to lease or sublease the dwelling unit.
This section requires the appropriate regulator to (1) prohibit owners of covered dwelling units from charging application fees to households applying to rent; (2) prohibit such owners from charging fees for criminal history, tenant screening, consumer reports, or other background checks; (3) limit late fees to less than 3% of monthly rent, applicable only after 15 days past due, with required disclosure in leases executed on or after issuance of rules under section 4; and (4) require pre-lease disclosures of the total monthly amount due (including fees), a summary of past litigation with former or current tenants, ongoing pest and maintenance issues, and rent increases over the prior 10 years.
This section directs the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection and the Federal Trade Commission, not later than 180 days after the date of enactment, to issue a rule that (1) defines the term "junk fee" with respect to rental housing; and (2) deems the furnishing of information about an unpaid junk fee (as defined pursuant to paragraph (1)) to a consumer reporting agency an unfair or unconscionable act or practice to collect or attempt to collect any debt, in violation of section 808 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692f). (Thus, debt collectors would be prohibited from reporting such unpaid junk fees to consumer reporting agencies.)