Bridge Property Management Charges Prospective Tenants Unlawful Rental Application Fees, Class Action Claims

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A proposed class action claims Bridge Property Management and Bridge WF CO Artisan LLC have charged unlawful rental application and administrative fees to prospective tenants in Colorado.

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The 14-page case says that before Colorado residents begin their tenancy at the defendants’ apartment units, the companies charge a $20 application fee for each tenant named on the lease and a $150 “holding fee.” According to the lawsuit, the defendants assess these fees in violation of the Rental Application Fairness Act (RAFA), a state law enacted by the Colorado legislature in 2019 to curb landlord overreach.

Under the RAFA, Colorado landlords are prohibited from charging a prospective tenant a rental application fee—which includes any nonrefundable fee charged by a landlord that precedes the onset of tenancy—unless the entire fee is used to cover either the actual or average cost of processing rental applications, the complaint explains. A rental application fee does not include a refundable security deposit or any rent paid before a lease begins, the suit notes.

If a landlord does not use the entire fee to cover rental application processing costs, they are required to make a “good-faith effort” to remit the remaining amount to the prospective tenant within 20 days after processing the application, the filing says.

Per the case, neither the $150 holding fees nor the $20 application fees are used in their entirety to cover the actual or average costs Bridge incurs in processing rental applications. What’s more, the defendants never remit the remaining amounts to prospective tenants, the complaint alleges.

The lawsuit goes on to say that the RAFA requires landlords to provide a prospective tenant who pays a rental application fee with a disclosure of their anticipated expenses for which the fee will be used, or an itemization of the landlord’s actual expenses incurred. Landlords who charge application fees in amounts based on the average cost of processing the rental application must provide prospective tenants with information detailing how that average rental application fee is determined, the filing says. However, the defendants fail to comply with any of these RAFA requirements, the case alleges.

As the suit tells it, the RAFA provides that companies are responsible for paying $2,500 to each consumer who paid allegedly unlawful fees. However, a company may avoid being held liable for these damages should it correct a violation within seven days of receiving notice of its misconduct, the filing says.

The case says that the plaintiff, a Colorado resident, and their two co-tenants collectively paid $61.35 in application fees and a $153.38 holding fee before starting their lease at Bridges at 9 Mile Station in May 2023. On September 19, 2023, the plaintiff emailed the apartment complex’s property manager asking them to provide either “a disclosure of your anticipated expenses for which both the application fee and the administrative fee was used,” “an itemization of your actual expenses incurred related to both fees,” or information “regarding how the average application fee and administrative fee was determined,” the filing relays.

In response, Bridges’ property manager merely stated that both fees are based “on an average of the market in Colorado,” and the average application fee “is based on what company is used to run information,” which the employee said was TrueVision Resident screening, the complaint shares.

According to the suit, Bridges’ property manager responded “deficiently” and in a manner that does not cure the companies’ alleged RAFA violations.

“If anything, the response from Bridges admits that no actual costs were used, and that the average costs were determined in relation to some ‘market average’ in Colorado as opposed to an average of the Defendants’ actual costs,” the case says.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States who, within the past two years, paid application fees and/or administrative fees to Bridges as prospective tenants of any Bridges property in Colorado.

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