Assessing Fees Not Included In Lease

[Brian Johnson]

Hello all,

Forgive me if this matter is not suited for this forum, as this appears to be a space for the investor side of things. 

Well...here goes nothing:

I signed a lease for a new apartment a few weeks back; move-in will take place a few weeks from now. It's out of state, so everything was conducted via phone and email. Standard leasing contract from a corporate, property management company. All Is dotted and Ts crossed. I'm perfectly happy with the lease. Fast forward to today and I receive a "due at move-in" statement from the leasing office. Included is a $400 "key fee". A fee NOT listed in my lease contract. In fact, my lease explicitly states that "keys will be provided at no additional cost". When I finally managed to get a hold of someone in the leasing office to point out the apparent discrepancy, they claimed it wasn't actually for the key, but the fob used for accessing amenities. I then pointed out my contract explicitly states that "keys AND fob will be provided at no additional cost". They THEN claimed "well, the keys and fob" are free, but the "enrollment" is not. "It's actually an "enrollment" fee, see". "Now, sign this enrollment form, not only agreeing to the $400 fee, but to also waive any future rights to participate in a class action lawsuit pertaining to the collection of this fee". 

Key fee? Enrollment fee? Have you ever? I sure haven't. Especially for that not-so trivial sum. Or any sum. Anyways, I flat-out told them I wouldn't be paying that fee, and that attempting to assess it is a clear breach of contract. 

Am I in the right?

Thanks for your time. 

[Bill B.]

You can’t pay it. It’s going to suck more for you than them but you can’t pay it. You’re just encouraging bad behavior. There can be zero chance this hasn’t come up before. And they still haven’t spent 5 minutes re-writing the lease. 

I’d politely say no thanks, please waive this fee or return ALL my monies and we’ll go our own ways. You should add your city/state to your profile so a local expert can help you. Most cities/states have renter assistance originations. Sometimes they make things worse, but this is a case of they have no reason to exist if they can’t fix this.