I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4907 

To prohibit owners of covered dwelling units from assessing or collecting 

certain fees from tenants, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 26, 2023 

Mr. FROST (for himself and Mr. GOMEZ) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to 

the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To prohibit owners of covered dwelling units from assessing 

or collecting certain fees from tenants, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘End Junk Fees for 

5 Renters Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RENTAL JUNK FEES. 

7 (a) APPLICATION FEES.—The appropriate regulator 

8 shall prohibit the owner of a covered dwelling unit from 


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1 assessing or collecting a fee or charge, from any household 

2 in connection with the submission of an application for 

3 rental of such dwelling unit. 

4 (b) TENANT SCREENING FEES.—The appropriate 

5 regulator shall prohibit the owner of a covered dwelling 

6 unit from assessing to or collecting from any household 

7 applying to rent such dwelling unit any fee or charge for 

8 costs of conducting any criminal history, tenant screening, 

9 consumer report, or other background check of such 

10 household. 

11 (c) LATE FEES.—The appropriate regulator shall 

12 prohibit the owner of a covered dwelling unit from assess13 ing to or collecting from any fee or charge in connection 

14 with the late payment of rent for such dwelling unit unless 

15 the amount of such late fee is applied to the amount of 

16 rent due the following month as a credit. 

17 (d) USE OF CONSUMER REPORTS.—The appropriate 

18 regulator shall prohibit the owner of a covered dwelling 

19 unit from, when screening a potential tenant, using— 

20 (1) a credit score (as such term is defined in 

21 section 609(f) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act); 

22 and 

23 (2) any consumer report by any consumer re24 porting agency that compiles and maintains files on 

25 consumers on a nationwide basis (as such term is 


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1 defined in section 603(p) of the Fair Credit Report2 ing Act). 

3 (e) REQUIRED DISCLOSURES.—The appropriate reg4 ulator shall require each owner of a covered dwelling unit 

5 to disclose to the tenant before a lease is signed— 

6 (1) the total amount due each month, including 

7 any fees; 

8 (2) to the degree practicable, a summary of any 

9 past litigation between the such owner and any 

10 former or current tenants; 

11 (3) a description of any ongoing pest and main12 tenance issues; and 

13 (4) the amount rent increase for the property in 

14 each of the 10 previous years. 

15 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 (1) APPROPRIATE REGULATOR.—The term ‘‘ap17 propriate regulator’’ means— 

18 (A) the Secretary of Housing and Urban 

19 Development, with respect to covered dwelling 

20 units described in— 

21 (i) paragraph (2)(A); 

22 (ii) paragraph (2)(B), to the extent 

23 the Federally backed mortgage loan re24 ferred to in such paragraph is described in 


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1 subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of para2 graph (3); or 

3 (iii) paragraph (2)(B), to the extent 

4 the Federally backed mortgage loan re5 ferred to in such paragraph is described in 

6 paragraph (4) and is made in whole or in 

7 part, or insured, guaranteed, supple8 mented, or assisted in any way under or in 

9 connection with a housing or urban devel10 opment program administered by the Sec11 retary of Housing and Urban Develop12 ment; 

13 (B) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, with 

14 respect to covered dwelling units described in 

15 paragraph (2)(B), to the extent the Federally 

16 backed mortgage loan referred to in such para17 graph is described in— 

18 (i) paragraph (3)(D); or 

19 (ii) paragraph (4) and is made in 

20 whole or in part, or insured, guaranteed, 

21 supplemented, or assisted in any way, by 

22 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs or under 

23 or in connection with a housing or related 

24 program administered by Secretary of Vet25 erans Affairs; 


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1 (C) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re2 spect to covered dwelling units described in 

3 paragraph (2)(B), to the extent the Federally 

4 backed mortgage loan referred to in such para5 graph is described in— 

6 (i) subparagraph (E) or (F) of para7 graph (3); or 

8 (ii) paragraph (4) and is made in 

9 whole or in part, or insured, guaranteed, 

10 supplemented, or assisted in any way, by 

11 the Secretary of Agriculture or under or in 

12 connection with a housing or related pro13 gram administered by Secretary of Agri14 culture; and 

15 (D) the Director of the Federal Housing 

16 Finance Agency, with respect to covered dwell17 ing units described in paragraph (2)(B), to the 

18 extent the Federally backed mortgage loan re19 ferred to in such paragraph is described in— 

20 (i) paragraph (3)(G); or 

21 (ii) paragraph (4) and is purchased or 

22 securitized by the Federal Home Loan 

23 Mortgage Corporation or the Federal Na24 tional Mortgage Association. 


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1 (2) COVERED DWELLING UNIT.—The term 

2 ‘‘covered dwelling unit’’ means a dwelling unit 

3 that— 

4 (A) is provided assistance within the juris5 diction of the Department, as such term is de6 fined in section 102(m) of the Department of 

7 Housing and Urban Development Reform Act 

8 of 1989 (42 U.S.C. 3545(m)); or 

9 (B) is subject to, or is on or in a property 

10 that is subject to a Federally backed single11 family mortgage loan or a Federally backed 

12 multifamily mortgage loan. 

13 (3) FEDERALLY BACKED SINGLE-FAMILY MORT14 GAGE LOAN.—The term ‘‘Federally backed single15 family mortgage loan’’ includes any loan that is se16 cured by a first or subordinate lien on residential 

17 real property (including individual units of con18 dominiums and cooperatives) designed principally for 

19 the occupancy of from 1- to 4-families that is— 

20 (A) insured by the Federal Housing Ad21 ministration under title II of the National 

22 Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1707 et seq.); 

23 (B) insured under section 255 of the Na24 tional Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1715z–20); 


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1 (C) guaranteed under section 184 or 184A 

2 of the Housing and Community Development 

3 Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 1715z–13a, 1715z– 

4 13b); 

5 (D) guaranteed or insured by the Depart6 ment of Veterans Affairs; 

7 (E) guaranteed or insured by the Depart8 ment of Agriculture; 

9 (F) made by the Department of Agri10 culture; or 

11 (G) purchased or securitized by the Fed12 eral Home Loan Mortgage Corporation or the 

13 Federal National Mortgage Association. 

14 (4) FEDERALLY BACKED MULTIFAMILY MORT15 GAGE LOAN.—The term ‘‘Federally backed multi16 family mortgage loan’’ includes any loan (other than 

17 temporary financing such as a construction loan) 

18 that— 

19 (A) is secured by a first or subordinate lien 

20 on residential multifamily real property de21 signed principally for the occupancy of 5 or 

22 more families, including any such secured loan, 

23 the proceeds of which are used to prepay or pay 

24 off an existing loan secured by the same prop25 erty; and 


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1 (B) is made in whole or in part, or in2 sured, guaranteed, supplemented, or assisted in 

3 any way, by any officer or agency of the Fed4 eral Government or under or in connection with 

5 a housing or urban development program ad6 ministered by the Secretary of Housing and 

7 Urban Development or a housing or related 

8 program administered by any other such officer 

9 or agency, or is purchased or securitized by the 

10 Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation or 

11 the Federal National Mortgage Association. 

12 (5) OWNER.—The term ‘‘owner’’ means, with 

13 respect to a dwelling unit, any private person or en14 tity, including a cooperative, an agency of the Fed15 eral Government, or a public housing agency, having 

16 the legal right to lease or sublease the dwelling unit. 

17 SEC. 3. RULEMAKING. 

18 The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection shall, 

19 not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 

20 of this section issue a rule that— 

21 (1) defines the term ‘‘junk fee’’ with respect to 

22 rental housing; and 

23 (2) finds the furnishing of any information 

24 about a unpaid junk fee (as such term is defined 

25 pursuant to paragraph (1)) to a consumer reporting 


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1 agency to be a unfair or unconscionable means to 

2 collect or attempt to collect debt in violation of sec3 tion 808 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. 

Æ 


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