Invitation Homes Inc. has been hit with a class action lawsuit challenging its practice of charging tenants late fees even when the rent is paid just one hour late and the company incurs no actual damage from the delay.
According to the rental late fee class action lawsuit, the rental market has changed substantially since the market crash 10 years ago caused millions of families to lose their homes through foreclosure, short sale, or surrender to a lender.
“Since then, national and global private equity firms have snatched up tens of thousands of single-family homes at hugely discounted prices (sometimes subsidized by the government and taxpayers), which they have then turned into rental properties,” the Invitation Homes class action lawsuit says.
“In short, the residential rental industry has recently undergone a massive transformation and consolidation out of the hands of small and family landlord businesses (who had direct ties to and relationships with their tenants), and into the large arms of private equity, hedge fund, and other Wall Street giants whose allegiances run solely to their investors, and whose motivations are driven purely by stock price and by showing and growing those all-important quarterly earnings.”
Plaintiff Jose Rivera says these Wall Street landlords evict their tenants at a far higher rate than other landlords of single-family homes. According to the Invitation Homes class action lawsuit, they also increase the rent for the properties, fail to do necessary maintenance, and assess illegal fees on tenants.
Rivera says the Wall Street landlords impose inflated “late” rent penalties and “penalties that stack on top of penalties that, themselves, cause a tenant to fall behind (even when they are paying their actual rent), leading to their eviction.”
According to the rental late fees class action lawsuit, publicly-traded Invitation Homes is the “largest player in this newly transformed rental market.” Rivera claims Invitation Homes charges tenants an initial fee of $95 for late rent payments, even if the payment is received just one hour past the grace period.
Rivera says he was a tenant of an Invitation Homes property in California. He claims he was subjected to the company’s allegedly illegal late rent penalty policy and was forced to pay the fees to Invitation Homes.
On at least one occasion, when Rivera attempted to pay his rent online through the company’s web portal, the web portal was not working. He contacted the company and was allegedly told not to worry about it and to keep trying. After multiple attempts to pay online were unsuccessful, he mailed in his payment, at which point it was technically “late.”
Invitation Homes reportedly returned Rivera’s check to him because the payment was late and did not include payment for the additional late fees and penalties.
According to the late rent fees class action lawsuit, Invitation Homes threatened to evict Rivera even though he paid his rent in full but failed to pay the late fees. Not wanting to be evicted from his home, he paid the $95 late fee plus $895 in “legal” fees.
Rivera claims these fees are arbitrary amounts and constitute illegal penalties. He filed the Invitation Homes class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and a proposed nationwide Class of tenants who were charged penalties or fees for paying rent that was deemed late or deficient. He also seeks to represent a California Class.
The plaintiff is represented by Craig M. Nicholas, Adam Tomasevic and Shaun Markley of Nicholas & Tomasevic LLP.
The Invitation Homes Late Fees Class Action Lawsuit is Jose Rivera v. Invitation Homes Inc., Case No. 3:18-cv-03158-JCS, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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57 thoughts onInvitation Homes Class Action Challenges Rental Late Fees
Same things are happening to me and I just moved in April 2024 and I didn’t know all this was going on until right after I moved in and then I started having the same problems as what the lawsuit is and I’m trying to find out what do I do along with the third party utility billing conservice charging me $512 for electric for one month and $130 water bill with a spigot leak took forever to fix. Please help I’m on disability and get help with section 8 for a $2200 month rent. Anybody please contact me at [email protected] related to this issue.
My home has been in an uproar since after the storm. They took the entire month of October to make repairs to a carpet removal and replacement. On top of that we have been in communication with them asking for some type of assistance as the entire reason the place flooded was due to structural damages as notated by technicians who came and did initial repairs. We asked for a simple revision of fees for the month/option to relocate. Long story short we were told we would have to reapply for a new property pay all upfront fees to transfer yes I said transfer that’s the term they used! In my head this isn’t a transfer this is an outright move into a new place signing a new lease for a longer term! Unacceptable when my lease is up in a few months. Anyway now November they send us a collections paper saying we owe last months and I’m receiving all sorts of eviction letters from lawyers saying file bankruptcy like that’s a good thing to be filing! After living here almost 2yrs this is becoming enough! This property has had major plumbing repairs the first year staying here causing our water bill to exceed 500$ in a one month term. Among other issues! Unfortunately we reside in Georgia too and this company isn’t showing any concern for their tenants! We have an extensive paper trail showing how they don’t even communicate and answer what they want in the questions we have as tenants. I’ve paid thier late fees before silently knowing this wasn’t right but this last month was too much my family was forced to turn our 3brdm 2bath into a two bedroom one bath and sleep in the living room for a month because my master bedroom was inoperable and now they’re attempting to evict us. When we clearly said we don’t mind paying what we owe we asked for fees to be removed since they never came to do repairs as they advertised until 11/1. From October 26-11/1 we were forced to live in a mess with techs coming and going doing repairs. I don’t think this was acceptable in any court.
My roof has fell in on us ,my main water valve has broken on the same day a electrical fire broke out in my bathroom Ii was charged to replace a 20 year old ac unit now their trying to make me pay for a new pool pump when the one that’s here is ancient. Their charging so many different types of fees I’ve filed a insurance claim months ago have not heard anything on that and they will not return any calls or emails PLEASE HELP I CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE PLEASE
How do I find out if I need a recovery agent or not? I’ve gotten 4 companies who say they will get my money for a fee.
Contact me as well. Invitation homes in Florida.
After the Henderson, Nevada home we rented and occupied was bought by Invitation Homes, we had noting but problems. No one answered the phone or replied to emails. When it came time for the lease renewal they insisted we sign an addendum acknowledging the presence of capital improvements that did not exist. They insisted we acknowledge the presence of fencing around the pool that wasn’t installed, and a home alarm system that was non-existent. After two months trying to resolve the lease inaccuracies, we finally gave-up and contacted a real-estate agent and bought a house rather than renew. In hind-sight, they did us a favor since we bought in September 2019 before things got crazy. Had it not been for Invitation Homes gross ineptitude and malfeasance, we would likely still be renters and would now be locked-out of the new home market. We are so grateful Invitation Homes sucks so bad, they sucked us right out of their rental home into a place of our own. I feel sorry for anyone forced to continue dealing with them. And I look forward to receiving my class-action lawsuit settlement check recently settled in Texas in favor of current and former tenants. I only regret the settlement wasn’t large enough to destroy half the the company’s equity.
Same here in North Carolina. I was a day late and was hit with the high $94 fee, which at the time I had to use my credit card to cover the rent + fee thus resulting in another $50 fee of using a credit card via their web portal. I also get charged with smart rent, a feature that is not wanted/needed, costs me $240 a year. Their maintenance team is not good. I requested they repair my toilet paper roll holder, and they spaced the ends out slightly too far causing the roll to always fall. They also will not repair a broken window caused by my former lawn maintenance staff. It is really sad to see more and more homes bought by these large companies who thrive on taking advantage of the average American family.
I have said this exact same comment about Invitation Homes when I started renting from them in 2017. They are so greedy and don’t give a damn about their rental properties (I cared more about the home and pool then they did) or their tenants, even the good, long term, loyal, and on-time paying ones. They did absolutely nothing to help anyone (including myself who lost my job) during this pandemic. I did get a few months of rental assistance from Calif Covid relief before it shut down. But as soon as that assistance ended IH was on me for payment plus additional $600-900 for the missed months? So, basically they aren’t willing to give up a dime of income during a time when many have lost their jobs, businesses, families, etc. They also have a sealed indictment on them so they (amongst many other large corps) will be going down soon I predict. Serves them right. I stumbled on this single family home with a private pool and spa and jumped on it in California (as they are hard to come by). I am kicking myself though for not checking reviews first – I would’ve run for the hills after reading them. I will do whatever it takes to help take them down – they have screwed over and ruined so many people’s lives for their stockholders. It is dispicable.
Contact me at [email protected]
I need someone to get back to me about invitatation homes. Was late on payment because of the way i get paid. So when i got paid i sent them the rent with late fees whitch are 310 plus they hit me with 500 in legal fees and they are sending check back for march because they said they need march and april together when they know for 10 years I’ve been here that i always pay late,around the 10th because i get paid once a month. I need someone ro cantact me in florida
Can someone please reach out to me for information on how to file a class action lawsuit or join the current one in California. I can attest that all these claims are true. I am a resident of IH in California, moved in June 2013. I have waited 2 months for a replacement stove, which I was told was not operable. I have to wait weeks and or months to get a service order filled.
Also since the pandemic, I paid my rent as normal. I was 11 days late and received a 3 day notice
Also if you dont pay by the third, they automatically charge you late fee. This went on during the pandemic and is still happening
I also need someone to contact me about Invitation Homes! They are a huge scam! I have dozens of photos proving terrible living conditions! I have emails and text with the company and the refusal to fix things like a hole in the roof, windows that would not close, doors that allowed rain to come through and a giant wall of mold! Plus so much more!
I too want to be contacted I live in Georgia
I want to be contacted also I live in Georgia
I lived the same nightmare and even though we finally got out last March, our health problems haven’t gone away due to the horrible living conditions and the toxic mold and water contamination. I documented everything. I would love to connect with you. My email is [email protected] and I’m a member of a ton of facebook groups for tenants of IH who have been going through this hell. If we all come together, maybe we can make a difference and warn others of what they actually do and what could happen.