Greystar Unfairly Charges Tenants ‘Junk’ Utility Admin Fee, Class Action Lawsuit Claims

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Property manager Greystar unfairly charges tenants a “junk” utility administrative fee each month, a proposed class action lawsuit alleges.

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The 19-page fraud case says Greystar fails to include the so-called “utility admin fee” in its advertised rent prices and instead does “everything it can” to hide the extra charge from tenants until shortly before move-in, well after they have already expended substantial effort into searching for a rental, given up prior living arrangements and made initial payments to the company.

By doing so, the defendant gives consumers no choice but to bear the monthly fee, which costs between $1 and $5 and offers no special benefits or services beyond basic costs Greystar is already required to pay as a landlord, the complaint alleges.

“In other words, these junk fees serve no legitimate purpose but to increase Greystar’s profits and inflate its bottom line,” the suit contends.

The filing argues that Greystar’s belated disclosure of these fees undermines competition with companies that advertise the true price of their apartment rentals and makes it difficult for prospective tenants to meaningfully compare its prices to those of other units.

“This practice has been going on for years,” the Greystar lawsuit says. “It has made [the defendant] and its unscrupulous owners major players in the payment processing industry, earning hundreds of millions of dollars per year from unsuspecting consumers.”

The plaintiff, a San Diego resident who rented property from Greystar, claims the defendant charged her a $4.75 utility admin fee each month after her lease began in March 2023. The plaintiff paid $57 in junk fees during her year-long lease, the filing contends.

According to the case, the defendant imposes a fee of around $57 annually on each of its 966,000 units nationwide, meaning that the company makes approximately $55 million from this “nonsense” add-on each year.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in California who, during the applicable statute of limitations period, was charged a utility admin fee by Greystar.

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