The Big Picture
While the rental housing industry and the National Apartment Association (NAA) support housing cost transparency in leasing, concerns remain about the proscriptive approaches to rent and fee disclosure legislation that are flourishing in state legislatures and local councils across the country.
By The Numbers
NAA’s legislative tracker found that fee transparency mandates are the most prominent fee regulation trend in 2025. This year, NAA tracked 26 state-level bills and 4 proposals at the local level in 21 states. Fee transparency mandates often:
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Require disclosure of the total price including all fees that renters may be required to pay during their tenancy.
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Prohibit housing providers from charging fees unless they are disclosed properly according to the law—which can be required in advertisements, wherever rent is offered or displayed or even at renewal.
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Eliminate housing providers’ ability to assess certain types of fees.
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Include penalties for noncompliance.
State Spotlight
Below are fee disclosure laws that most recently became effective in 2025 or soon will become effective:
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Colorado: Effective January 1, 2026, Colorado HB 25-1090 prohibits housing providers from offering, displaying or advertising housing costs as a single number without separating the total price into separate fees, charges or amounts. The total price also must be disclosed more prominently than other pricing information. According to the new law, a housing provider may not assess a fee to cover the costs for maintenance of common areas. They also may not require a resident to pay a markup or fee for a third-party service, "except that a written rental agreement may include a provision that requires a tenant to pay either a markup or fee in an amount that does not exceed two percent of the amount that the landlord was billed or a markup or fee in an amount that does not exceed a total of ten dollars per month, but not both." Any housing provider doing business in Colorado should consult with their attorney to understand impacts to their operations.
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Connecticut: Effective October 1, 2025, Connecticut SB 3 requires housing providers to disclose any fee, charge or cost that the renter will be required to pay on a periodic basis in the advertised, displayed or offered rent, “regardless of whether the tenant may opt out of such fee, charge or cost.” Notable exceptions to the state’s fee disclosure requirements are payment processing fees, pet fees or deposits, utilities or damage charges. The law mandates specific lease language drafted by the State’s Department of Housing and requires it be provided in English and Spanish.
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Massachusetts: Effective September 2, 2025, Massachusetts 940 CMR 38.00 requires all businesses in the state, including housing providers, to disclose clearly and conspicuously the total price being advertised to consumers, including “any fees, interest, charges or other expenses necessary to complete a transaction.” The State’s attorney general issued updated guidance which answers frequently asked questions for housing providers, including advertising total price, lease implications for “negative option feature” requirements and disclosure of water and sewer charges.
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New Mexico: Effective June 20, 2025, New Mexico SB 267 requires housing providers to disclose to applicants in plain language all costs of a rental agreement in a published listing of the dwelling unit, including the base rent that will be assessed and a description of all fees or charges that will be assessed during the residency, which shall be itemized and readily identifiable in the listing. Unique to New Mexico, the new law includes a safe harbor for housing providers; they cannot be liable for violating this provision of the state’s Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act due to a third-party website's failure to represent all costs provided by the owner.
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Virginia: Applicable to rental agreements that are entered into, extended or renewed on or after July 1, 2025, Virginia HB 2430 updates the state’s existing fee disclosure law and requires housing providers to include an itemization of all charges to renters on the first page of lease agreements, including: The security deposit, the amount of rent due per payment period pursuant to the lease and any additional one-time charges due prior to the commencement of the lease agreement or that will be included in the first rental payment. Per the new law, state-mandated language also must be included in Virginia leases.
Local Approaches
Local policymakers are beginning to put their mark on this type of proposal. Effective September 17, 2025, Fayetteville, Ark. requires clear and prominent disclosure of all fees and costs that are likely to be charged to renters prior to the acceptance of an application fee or prior to furnishing the lease if the housing provider has not earlier required payment for rental application review or a background check. The ordinance requires disclosure in paper rental applications and lease agreements. It also details specific requirements for disclosure in online listings, print advertisements and at the onsite leasing office.
Effective August 1, 2025, Bellingham, Wash. now requires disclosure of rent, any optional and mandatory fees and utilities in any advertisement, listing, or rental application, “unless infeasible due to size constraints, unavoidable word limits, or similar impediments.” Disclosure is also required on the first page of the rental agreement. The ordinance details a list of prohibited fees deemed “unfair or excessive” by the City, including fees for the use of an in-unit appliance, fees to process rent or other renter payments and fees for mail or package collection or distribution.
NAA’s Perspective
Policymakers must recognize that the landlord-tenant relationship fundamentally differs from businesses that engage in single-point transactions that are more typically regulated through “junk fee” or “drip pricing” laws.
Housing providers assess fees to facilitate necessary business practices and to provide residents with services or benefits that they opt-into throughout the lifecycle of tenancy. All anticipated rental housing costs are disclosed in rental agreements and acknowledged by renters when they sign the lease.
Moreover, rent and fee transparency laws should recognize that renters may never be subject to conditional fees such as late fees, bad check fees, pet or parking fees, and these fees should not be required to be included in total price disclosures, which would artificially inflate rents and make anticipated rental housing costs unclear to renters.
While the Federal Trade Commission intentionally excluded the rental housing industry from its federal Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, thanks largely to NAA’s advocacy, states and localities see an opening to regulate housing providers and expand consumer protections. NAA will continue its federal advocacy defending the industry and support its affiliate partners’ as they ensure that the industry’s perspective is heard and represented in conversations about fee regulation. For more information on fee disclosure legislation, contact publicpolicy@naahq.org.