[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4907 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``End Junk Fees for Renters Act''.

SEC. 2. RENTAL JUNK FEES.

    (a) Application Fees.--The appropriate regulator shall prohibit the 
owner of a covered dwelling unit from assessing or collecting a fee or 
charge, from any household in connection with the submission of an 
application for rental of such dwelling unit.
    (b) Tenant Screening Fees.--The appropriate regulator shall 
prohibit the owner of a covered dwelling unit from assessing to or 
collecting from any household applying to rent such dwelling unit any 
fee or charge for costs of conducting any criminal history, tenant 
screening, consumer report, or other background check of such 
household.
    (c) Late Fees.--The appropriate regulator shall prohibit the owner 
of a covered dwelling unit from assessing to or collecting from any fee 
or charge in connection with the late payment of rent for such dwelling 
unit unless the amount of such late fee is applied to the amount of 
rent due the following month as a credit.
    (d) Use of Consumer Reports.--The appropriate regulator shall 
prohibit the owner of a covered dwelling unit from, when screening a 
potential tenant, using--
            (1) a credit score (as such term is defined in section 
        609(f) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act); and
            (2) any consumer report by any consumer reporting agency 
        that compiles and maintains files on consumers on a nationwide 
        basis (as such term is defined in section 603(p) of the Fair 
        Credit Reporting Act).
    (e) Required Disclosures.--The appropriate regulator shall require 
each owner of a covered dwelling unit to disclose to the tenant before 
a lease is signed--
            (1) the total amount due each month, including any fees;
            (2) to the degree practicable, a summary of any past 
        litigation between the such owner and any former or current 
        tenants;
            (3) a description of any ongoing pest and maintenance 
        issues; and
            (4) the amount rent increase for the property in each of 
        the 10 previous years.
    (f) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Appropriate regulator.--The term ``appropriate 
        regulator'' means--
                    (A) the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 
                with respect to covered dwelling units described in--
                            (i) paragraph (2)(A);
                            (ii) paragraph (2)(B), to the extent the 
                        Federally backed mortgage loan referred to in 
                        such paragraph is described in subparagraph 
                        (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (3); or
                            (iii) paragraph (2)(B), to the extent the 
                        Federally backed mortgage loan referred to in 
                        such paragraph is described in paragraph (4) 
                        and is made in whole or in part, or insured, 
                        guaranteed, supplemented, or assisted in any 
                        way under or in connection with a housing or 
                        urban development program administered by the 
                        Secretary of Housing and Urban Development;
                    (B) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, with respect 
                to covered dwelling units described in paragraph 
                (2)(B), to the extent the Federally backed mortgage 
                loan referred to in such paragraph is described in--
                            (i) paragraph (3)(D); or
                            (ii) paragraph (4) and is made in whole or 
                        in part, or insured, guaranteed, supplemented, 
                        or assisted in any way, by the Secretary of 
                        Veterans Affairs or under or in connection with 
                        a housing or related program administered by 
                        Secretary of Veterans Affairs;
                    (C) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to 
                covered dwelling units described in paragraph (2)(B), 
                to the extent the Federally backed mortgage loan 
                referred to in such paragraph is described in--
                            (i) subparagraph (E) or (F) of paragraph 
                        (3); or
                            (ii) paragraph (4) and is made in whole or 
                        in part, or insured, guaranteed, supplemented, 
                        or assisted in any way, by the Secretary of 
                        Agriculture or under or in connection with a 
                        housing or related program administered by 
                        Secretary of Agriculture; and
                    (D) the Director of the Federal Housing Finance 
                Agency, with respect to covered dwelling units 
                described in paragraph (2)(B), to the extent the 
                Federally backed mortgage loan referred to in such 
                paragraph is described in--
                            (i) paragraph (3)(G); or
                            (ii) paragraph (4) and is purchased or 
                        securitized by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage 
                        Corporation or the Federal National Mortgage 
                        Association.
            (2) Covered dwelling unit.--The term ``covered dwelling 
        unit'' means a dwelling unit that--
                    (A) is provided assistance within the jurisdiction 
                of the Department, as such term is defined in section 
                102(m) of the Department of Housing and Urban 
                Development Reform Act of 1989 (42 U.S.C. 3545(m)); or
                    (B) is subject to, or is on or in a property that 
                is subject to a Federally backed single-family mortgage 
                loan or a Federally backed multifamily mortgage loan.
            (3) Federally backed single-family mortgage loan.--The term 
        ``Federally backed single-family mortgage loan'' includes any 
        loan that is secured by a first or subordinate lien on 
        residential real property (including individual units of 
        condominiums and cooperatives) designed principally for the 
        occupancy of from 1- to 4-families that is--
                    (A) insured by the Federal Housing Administration 
                under title II of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 
                1707 et seq.);
                    (B) insured under section 255 of the National 
                Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1715z-20);
                    (C) guaranteed under section 184 or 184A of the 
                Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 (12 
                U.S.C. 1715z-13a, 1715z-13b);
                    (D) guaranteed or insured by the Department of 
                Veterans Affairs;
                    (E) guaranteed or insured by the Department of 
                Agriculture;
                    (F) made by the Department of Agriculture; or
                    (G) purchased or securitized by the Federal Home 
                Loan Mortgage Corporation or the Federal National 
                Mortgage Association.
            (4) Federally backed multifamily mortgage loan.--The term 
        ``Federally backed multifamily mortgage loan'' includes any 
        loan (other than temporary financing such as a construction 
        loan) that--
                    (A) is secured by a first or subordinate lien on 
                residential multifamily real property designed 
                principally for the occupancy of 5 or more families, 
                including any such secured loan, the proceeds of which 
                are used to prepay or pay off an existing loan secured 
                by the same property; and
                    (B) is made in whole or in part, or insured, 
                guaranteed, supplemented, or assisted in any way, by 
                any officer or agency of the Federal Government or 
                under or in connection with a housing or urban 
                development program administered by the Secretary of 
                Housing and Urban Development or a housing or related 
                program administered by any other such officer or 
                agency, or is purchased or securitized by the Federal 
                Home Loan Mortgage Corporation or the Federal National 
                Mortgage Association.
            (5) Owner.--The term ``owner'' means, with respect to a 
        dwelling unit, any private person or entity, including a 
        cooperative, an agency of the Federal Government, or a public 
        housing agency, having the legal right to lease or sublease the 
        dwelling unit.

SEC. 3. RULEMAKING.

    The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection shall, not later than 
180 days after the date of the enactment of this section issue a rule 
that--
            (1) defines the term ``junk fee'' with respect to rental 
        housing; and
            (2) finds the furnishing of any information about a unpaid 
        junk fee (as such term is defined pursuant to paragraph (1)) to 
        a consumer reporting agency to be a unfair or unconscionable 
        means to collect or attempt to collect debt in violation of 
        section 808 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
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