Campaigning for Renter's Rights

Are you against valet garbage and the mandatory junk fees charged by landlords? The above Action Network letter campaign is to urge political representatives at the state and federal levels to consider legal code enforcement to protect renters from valet garbage service fees and other junk fees being made mandatory by landlords across the U.S.

Valet garbage services are a third-party provider hired by landlords to courier garbage from outside the tenant's door to the garbage chutes or containers at certain times of the day and under certain conditions. In essence, they are hired to manage the flow of garbage in the communal regions of the property. Residents are charged a mandatory service fee in excess of the cost of the valet garbage service charged to the landlord.

Our letter campaign presents 5 major arguments against valet garbage junk fees in apartment communities.

1. Valet garbage junk fees forcibly monetize our trash.
2. Landlords bill tenants a utilities "service fee" which we cannot opt out of, even if we perform the service ourselves.
3. Landlords are charging tenants in excess of the valet service third-party contracts, thereby profiting from the mandated service.
4. Tenants’ garbage left for hours at a time within hallways and breezeways creates serious public health and safety concerns.
5. Landlords are charging residents á la carte services to maintain the communal premises. 

Landlords hire third-party valet garbage removal services and charge a mandatory fee that tenants cannot opt out of. Our concerns are not only the $300-400 minimum increase in yearly housing rates and how they were instituted, but also the public health safety and sanitation of apartment communities considering garbage will line resident hallways and breezeways on a regular basis.  

Landlords profit from these fees by charging the resident in excess of the actual fees billed by the third party provider. We argue this business model monetizes trash. These mandatory service fees collected from tenants will be used to increase net operating income (NOI) and property values for the landlords, as was the reported business model in Property Manager Insider (May 2021, “What to expect when adding valet trash service at an apartment complex”, Section: Increased Net Operating Income). 

Valet garbage has set dangerous precedents in the housing provider industry because landlords are exploiting their responsibilities to maintain the communal premises. The lack of specificity and rental protections in the law opens the door for landlords to impose junk fees, beyond rental rates, for other operating expenses such as cleaning, pest control, landscaping, and more. When landlords bill tenants for operating expenses on top of rental rates, they receive an immediate bump in rental income without reporting an increase in rental rates. This creates false data points in the market as well as a more rapid increase in housing rates. 

This irresponsible use of junk fees in the rental industry works against fair housing markets. Currently, there is no government regulatory “watchdog” which operates to protect tenants. No one monitors the unfair business practices of these asset managing firms. We humbly request a special review session to discuss residents' concerns about junk fees in the rental industry, to include but not limited to, valet garbage fees. Renters are a vulnerable and growing group who require protections from unsavory business practices that are rapidly invading the market. Property management industry and asset managers need regulation and tenants need protections.