Some renters are being forced to pay hundreds in unregulated 'junk fees.' What are they?

Most tenants expect to pay rent and a security deposit when signing a lease. But for many renters in Central Indiana, the upfront price tag is misleading. 

Landlords are charging "junk fees," according to a recent report on the rising rental burden by the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana.

"It's fees above and beyond what we would call your monthly base rent and utilities," said Amy Nelson, the center's executive director. "These are fees that the applicant or the tenant may or may not have been fully made aware of at the time that they signed that lease."

The report from the center highlights several factors driving up the cost of rental housing in Central Indiana, such as rising rent, as wages have not kept up. Junk fees are one of these factors, the report said.

They can force lower income tenants to make tough choices, Nelson added. 

"Any time you have extra fees, particularly if you weren't anticipating them, something's got to give," Nelson said. Something isn't going to get paid for, whether that is food, prescriptions, medical, whatever it might be."

The Housing Policy Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law divides junk fees into different categories, including mandatory recurring fees, mandatory one-off fees, and optional fees.
 

What do 'junk fees' look like? 

Mandatory recurring fees include repeated charges for services or amenities a tenant is required to pay, on top of a monthly rent. Tenants are not able to opt out of them.

According to the FHCCI, these can include fees for:

• Trash or pest control
• Property-provided internet
• "Technology"
• "Chilled water"

And they can add up: The center estimates these fees can add $50 to $100 or more to a monthly bill.

Mandatory one-off fees are those charged to tenants only once, sometimes at the start of their lease. They can also include fines.

The FHCCI documented specific one-time fees in Central Indiana, such as viewing deposits, administrative fees, move-in fees and even charges just to apply. These can also add up to hundreds of dollars and inflate the cost of moving into a new unit. 

Optional fees are fees the tenant can choose whether or not to pay, including fees that are not easy to opt out of. One-time pet fees, monthly pet rent, fees for non-standard lease periods, and parking, storage, or landscaping fees are some observed by the FHCCI. 
 

What can tenants do? 

Currently, Indiana law does not regulate junk fees. A 2025 bill attempted to require landlords to disclose all fees in advertisements, but the measure failed.

At least 24 states have laws limiting fees, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

The FHCCI recommends that Indiana should require landlords to share these costs upfront. The report notes that some states require non-optional fees to be listed on the first page of a lease, disclose all the costs in advertising for a unit, restricting background check fees, or capping late fees.

Indiana landlord-tenant law favors landlords and doesn't limit these types of fees. The Fair Housing Center argues that any reform should be made in coordination with other housing policies that address the various factors contributing to housing costs, not just junk fees. 

Despite the lack of legal restrictions, Nelson recommends that tenants read the lease "from top to finish" before signing. She noted that nothing prevents tenants from trying to negotiate terms or asking for fees to be removed.

"The other thing is to ask up front for them to give their full price sheet, or if there's any fees that are not listed in the lease, and to have that documented — email, text, something like that — so that if something does, in fact, pop up later, they might have a strong case then for pursuing that within small claims court or other court," Nelson said.
 

Contact WFYI Data Journalist Zak Cassel at zcassel@wfyi.org