LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Norma Elliott recently celebrated her 93rd birthday.
However, there's one thing she's not celebrating — her monthly apartment bill.
Why? She's being charged for a parking spot, even though she doesn't own a vehicle, hasn't driven in two years, and doesn't plan to drive again during her lifetime.
"I feel like I'm paying for something that I don't have," Elliott told me.
That parking fee is one of several junk fees buried in her lease. When her daughter, Janice Tartan, tried to get that fee removed, she ran into a wall.
"They said that it is actually for maintenance of the parking lot," Tartan said. "[That] does not also coincide with the maintenance fee that you pay for the grounds."
"I figured that's illegal," Elliott said. "It's not a parking garage. It's not a municipality where you pay coming in or going out of the premises."
Tartan did the math. There are 363 units in her mom's complex and they are each charged a parking fee. When you add that up, it equates to just over $9,000 a month that the complex is bringing in for parking alone.
"I don't think it takes that much money to maintain the parking lot," Tartan said.
Elliott has lived in her complex for eight years. The extra fees didn't show up until Greystar Corporation took over management. The parking fee is just the beginning. On top of rent, Elliott is also paying for a common area electricity fee, common area maintenance fee, which is separate from the parking lot maintenance fee, a sewer fee, a trash fee, and a water fee. Then, there are fees with no explanation whatsoever.
"You've got a real estate fee of $10.50 a month. What even is that," I asked them.
"I don't even know what that is," Tartan replied.
State Assemblywoman Venicia Considine authored Assembly Bill 121 during the last legislative session. It's a law requiring landlords to stop hiding fees and roll them into the listed rent price.
"It's way more common than I expected when we started working on this bill. I got calls from multiple people," Considine said. "There were even people working in the legislature that this exact situation had happened to them, including that it was Greystar. You know what they were told? Well now, it's going to be new fees. One of them was Internet."
READ AB121 BELOW
We've seen this before. In a previous Darcy, What's The Deal segment, we introduced you to Loretta Byers, a senior in our valley being charged for an internet package she didn't want or need.
"But this is being forced on you and your neighbors," I said.
"Yes. It's being forced," Byers replied. "Take it or leave, and nobody wants to break their lease."
MAY 2025: Surprise Internet fees cause unexpected rent increase for Las Vegas tenants
We stepped in and took Elliott and Tartan's concerns directly to Greystar. They refused an on-camera interview but sent a statement claiming, "the lease was signed before October 1st, when Assembly Bill 121 became effective." They also say they "believe they are fully in compliance with AB 121."
Here's the problem. Considine, the woman who wrote the law, disagrees. She told us "the fact the lease started in December but the draft has a September date in it seems to me to show they intentionally tried to avoid the law."
"You, as a tenant, have a right to sue over it," she said. "And for someone who's, you know, built their life, has been a good person as far as paying all their bills, keeping up with everything, they're now in their elderly era on a fixed income, and this is the fear and the stuff they have to deal with now. It's kind of egregious."
Greystar also left several of our questions completely unanswered.
- Why is a woman without a car being charged a parking fee?
- Can that fee be removed?
- What exactly is a real estate fee?
We followed up multiple times. Their PR representative said he'd pass along the questions and pointed us to the same statement.
As for Elliott and Tartan, they've had enough.
"It's like they're nickel and diming you to death," Tartan said. "I'm sorry. I think that that corporation is probably doing just fine."
Just how fine? Greystar manages more than $79 billion in assets. After our questions, Elliott and Tartan got a surprise call from a Greystar rep who said they were "looking into" the parking fee and updating the lease language. It turns out the parking heading appears twice in the lease and no one noticed before.
Greystar also admitted charging Elliott a damage waiver fee for not having renter's insurance — even though she does. She was wrongly charged three times. So far, she's only been refunded for two.
JANUARY 2025: DOJ sues RealPage, alleging software contributed to meteoric rents
If you think this is the first time Greystar has been in hot water, think again.
Greystar was one of six companies sued by the Department of Justice in a price-fixing scheme, using software called RealPage to artificially inflate prices. This past Monday, a federal judge approved a settlement and dismissed claims against Greystar.
The conditions? Stop using renters' private data to set prices and remove any features that prevent rents from going down. A court-appointed monitor will watch them to make sure they follow through. If they violate those terms, Greystar will face contempt and additional federal penalties.
As for the renters who overpaid, they get nothing. The settlement includes no compensation.
And while Greystar may have settled, the case rolls on against other major landlords named in the lawsuit, including Camden Property Trust, Cushman & Wakefield, Pinnacle Property Management Services, Willow Bridge Property Company, LIVCOR, and Cortland Management.
Do you have a situation you'd like Darcy to look into? Head to ktnv.com/whatsthedeal and fill out the form.
