The July Fee Transparency Reset

For owners and operators: This article is informational and should be coordinated with your legal and compliance teams.

Fee transparency has moved from a legal update you read to an operating workflow you run.

Across the rental housing market, new rules are changing how operators present rent, fees, utilities, optional services, and move-in costs to prospects and residents. We recently covered the fee transparency laws that passed in 2025. Now that several of those rules are live or taking effect, the practical question is different: are your day-to-day leasing systems showing the same price, the same fee labels, and the same disclosures everywhere a renter sees them?

Connecticut’s price transparency law takes effect July 1, 2026, and generally prohibits advertising, displaying, or offering a price that excludes required fees, charges, or costs, subject to specific exceptions. Colorado’s HB25-1090 has also been in effect since January 1, 2026, requiring clear disclosure of the maximum total price.

The best July compliance move is a focused audit of the places where fee information actually appears.

Where hidden fee risk shows up

Fee transparency issues can start with small inconsistencies. A fee may be listed correctly in the lease but missing from a rental listing. A required monthly charge may appear in the rental listing, but uses an incorrect label. 

Operators should start with these five touchpoints:

1. ILS Listings

Internet listing services are often the first place a prospect compares communities. Check whether displayed pricing includes mandatory charges where required, whether optional fees are clearly labeled, and whether any third-party feeds are pulling outdated fee data.

2. Property Websites

A property website may show pricing in multiple places: floor plan pages, availability modules, specials, cost summaries, FAQs, and downloadable brochures. Confirm that each location tells the same pricing story.

3. Application Flow

Applications can introduce risk when applicants see charges only after they begin the leasing process. Review the application flow, fee acknowledgments, payment screens, and move-in cost summaries.

4. Lease Templates

Lease language should match the advertised pricing structure. If a fee is mandatory, optional, refundable, variable, or utility-related, the lease should describe it consistently with the listing and application flow.

5. Renewal Notices

Renewals can be overlooked because they involve existing residents rather than new prospects. Review whether renewal offers clearly explain rent, mandatory charges, optional services, utility billing, and any changes from the current lease term.

Classifying Fees

A useful audit starts by classifying every charge a renter may see or pay. The label matters because different categories may require different disclosure treatment depending on the jurisdiction, especially when a charge is mandatory, optional, variable, or imposed by a government or utility provider.

Use these buckets:

• Mandatory charges: Amounts a renter must pay to rent the unit, such as required amenity, technology, trash, pest control, parking, package, or administrative charges.
• Optional charges: Amounts tied to services the renter can choose or decline, such as optional reserved parking, storage, pet services, valet trash, or other add-ons.
• Variable charges: Amounts that may change based on usage, selections, timing, occupancy, or other facts. This category often includes utility-related charges, usage-based services, late fees, payment method fees, or month-to-month premiums.
• Utility-related charges: A subset of variable charges that deserves separate review because many state rules treat utilities differently. This includes water, sewer, trash, electric, gas, RUBS, submetered charges, utility allocation methods, utility administrative fees, and any related markups.
• Government-imposed charges: Taxes, government fees, or other charges imposed by a public authority. These may be treated differently from owner-imposed or manager-imposed charges.

Once charges are classified, compare how each category appears across every renter-facing channel. The goal is consistency: the same charge should have the same name, amount, classification, and explanation wherever a renter encounters it.

What to look for

An audit does not need to be complicated. However, it does need to be specific.

Start with a sample of properties in states with active or upcoming fee transparency requirements. Then review the complete leasing path from first search to signed lease.

Operators should capture and compare:

• Screenshots of listings and websites: Save screenshots showing price, fees, specials, disclaimers, and the date captured.
• Pricing feeds: Confirm that data sent to ILS partners, property websites, and prospect portals is current and mapped to the right fields.
• Fee labels: Look for inconsistent terms like “service fee,” “admin fee,” “utility fee,” “resident package,” or “convenience fee.” If two systems use two labels for the same charge, prospects and residents may be confused.
• Lease consistency: Confirm that charges listed in the lease lease match the amounts and categories shown earlier in the leasing flow.
• Renewal templates: Review renewal offers for consistency with current pricing and fee disclosure practices.
• Team scripts: Leasing teams should be able to explain required charges, optional services, utilities, and move-in amounts in plain language. Training should match the disclosures renters see online.

Make fee transparency operational

The strongest fee transparency programs treat pricing as shared data, not one-off language.

That means legal, operations, marketing, accounting, and onsite teams need a common source of truth for fee names, amounts, descriptions, and classifications. It also means operators should build a repeatable review process for new fees, changed fees, concessions, renewal offers, and new market launches.

A simple monthly control can help:

1. Pull a list of all active fees by property.
   
   
2. Classify each fee.
   
   
3. Confirm where each fee appears.
   
   
4. Compare website, ILS, portal, lease, and renewal disclosures.
   
   
5. Update scripts and templates.
   
   
6. Retain proof of review.

This type of workflow helps operators catch discrepancies before prospects, residents, regulators, or plaintiffs find them.

How Entrata can help

Entrata has developed Fee Transparency features to help operators present more complete and consistent pricing information across leasing touchpoints. These tools are designed to support all-in advertised pricing, fee breakdowns, rent calculator visibility, and ILS access to comprehensive fee data.

As part of the June 16, 2026 standard release, Entrata automatically enabled Fee Transparency features for properties in states that have passed fee transparency laws. Properties may opt out if desired, but Entrata recommends that all properties adopt fee transparency because clearer pricing helps prospective renters understand the full cost upfront, builds trust, and reduces friction in the leasing process.

When enabled, Fee Transparency supports three key workflows:

1. All-in advertised pricing: Externally advertised pricing can display the total monthly price, including base rent and all required recurring fees. That total price can appear on ProspectPortal websites and snippets and can be shared with Internet Listing Services and other parties that consume pricing data through API.
2. Fees breakdown and rent calculator: Operators can advertise additional charges, optional add-ons, and pet fees so prospects can see a more complete breakdown of potential costs. Fee Transparency also enables the Rent Calculator on ProspectPortal, helping prospects visualize and understand the pricing details before they apply.
3. ILS integration: ILS vendors can access comprehensive fee data, helping external listings reflect fuller pricing details and improving consistency across the prospect journey.

Operators should also review the fees configured in Entrata to confirm they reflect all charges applicants and residents could encounter while living at the property. That review is a practical part of the July reset: once fee data is accurate in the platform, teams are better positioned to keep pricing consistent across websites, portals, listings, leases, and leasing conversations.

For additional information, visit Entrata’s Fee Transparency resource page: https://www.entrata.com/fee-transparency.

July is the right moment to reset. Not because every rule is new, but because the rules that are already live now need to work inside real leasing workflows.