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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53 thoughts onInvitation Homes Class Action Challenges Rental Late Fees
I would like to be a part of the lawsuit. I’ve had to pay $95 a month added to my rent to pay on their website, smart house fees and $100 late fee because the website was 4hrs ahead in time.PLUS $400. Extra for utilities added to my rent.
I’m am currently going through this right now in Georgia. I’m literally waiting on the sheriff to be thrown out on the street because when I went to court after multiple late charges that they kept adding and when one amount was dropped off, it would be mailed back the next day saying they cant except a “partial payment” due to them adding on ANOTHER late fee had been added. This went on for 2 months and then this month the sent an eviction notice and on the court paper it was another different amount and after court even more fees were added. Even though I had the full amount they asked at court 2 days later which it now $5440.62, they refused my payment saying due to all they late payments they want the house back, and gave me 7 days. I just don’t under stand how a $1140/mo rent turned into $5440.62 in 2 mos? I still have all the cashiers with the date stamp by them every time they were sent back in the last 2 mos, and we have lived in this house for 3 & 1/2 years! I feel pretty stupid now that I have been investigating them, I was just trying to be a roof of my family’s head and trying to do what ever it took to so and still got screwed in the end.
I just got a visit from Invitation Homes today and they wanted to know what day I we would be put and they hand me a form stating a BRAND NEW amount owed! They have charge another 10% fee which makes the amount I owe even more than when I went to court! Please contact me I want to join this suit !
I would like to join this class action lawsuit, can somebody let me know how I would go about signing up? I had rented a Waypoint/Invitation Homes property in the East Bay Area from: Aug. 2012 – Sept. 2018. Thanks guys, and good luck to everyone dealing with this monstracity of a company.
How do I become apart of this lawsuit I am currently having the same problems with invitation homes
I had to fight 5,000 off my credit from years of deffirmation never got security deposit back and p as I’d thousands of dollars in late fees
This happens in Ga as well. I am interested in this class action.
how do i join this class action? i wonder if i’m eligible.
i paid rent late in the day on friday 8/3, and was assessed a late fee and that my rent hadn’t been received.
Was assessed a late fee that I imagined would be due upon next months rent, but have just received an eviction notice to pay or be evicted by 8/15 over ONLY the late fee which is 172.50. The $1725, which is my rent and which I already paid, not mattering.
is anyone else getting charged utility fees? they’re adding over $200 per month for utility fees on top of our rent?
YES!!! What is this??? I have called repeatedly they said they would send itemized bill which I still haven’t received. My rent this month is over $400 more than my lease quotes. I have to call my bank each month to get my limit raised to make my payment because they won’t take checks online or let you use 2 payment methods. And why am I not notified till the due date when I go to pay what extra they are charging?
I am! Every single month
Same for me in LA
Rent due
Paid in portal- payment rejected.
Office called me and I had to call my bank.
Next month same thing- told this time I couldn’t pay online.
Sent MO in the amount requested for next day delivery
That night email at 450pm
They added another 100
Payment got there as it should and was rejected As it didn’t include all of the fees.
Had to pay for same day return on money order so I could resubmit. With the 100 the next day.
Is this going on in California only? Because I’m having some of the same issues with Invitation Homes in Florida. In addition I feel like they’re making it as difficult as possible to pay rent on time in order to charge fees. I was letting my bank make automatic payments every month. Invitation Homes started saying my check didn’t arrive on time, even though my bank would say it did. They even sent my check back after it arrived early once. They said they couldn’t accept an early payment. So, I started using the Invitation Homes website. They would wait 3 days to tell me it did work and charge me a $200.00 late fee. this happened twice. Now they’re saying that since Their website failed to sent my check out correctly, I must pay with a certified check. Problem is They only allow you to pay on the 1st, 2nd or 3rd. On the fourth, you’re late. It costs me $200.00 each time. It’s cost me about 800.00 over the past year or two. They’re always quick to let you know on the fourth. Then they won’t accept the check that got their on the fourth and I’ll get an eviction notice by the 5th. I tried to talk to their reps in Jacksonville but they said that its all in my lease and that I shouldn’t have signed it. It’s not the end of the world. I’ll move at the end of this lease. But I just think it’s a really crummy way to treat renters and shouldn’t be legal. I’ve never had trouble with landlords before.
It’s going on in Florida… This company has been a nightmare from day one..