R.I. AG settlement forces real estate company to refund tenant applicants $100K in ‘excessive' fees
A national real estate company will have to pay back nearly $100,000 in fees charged to local residents who applied to live at any of its Rhode Island housing properties under a settlement announced Thursday by the Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General.
The agreement comes four months after the AG's office sued A.R. Building Co. in state Superior Court, alleging the Philadelphia company violated consumer protection laws by forcing prospective tenants to pay 'excessive' application and screening fees.
The state's December lawsuit alleged the company violated Rhode Island's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act and a new state law which took effect on Jan. 1 that limits fees landlords can charge to prospective tenants. The 19-page complaint lists three anonymous consumers — identified as A, B, and C — as examples, but the AG's office estimates nearly 400 applicants paid fees during the 13-month timeframe of the complaint, said Tim Rondeau, a spokesperson for the AG.
The state also claimed in its complaint that the company violated state and federal fair housing protections by requiring a more difficult application process for applicants with disabilities.
As part of the settlement, which resolves all components of the complaint, A.R. Building will also pay $114,750 to the state for a total monetary compensation of $213,000. And, it has agreed to stop charging application fees to residents looking to live in any of its five local housing complexes, while allowing prospective tenants to avoid screening fees by submitting their own documents as part of the application.
'We will hold accountable any entity that attempts to take advantage of consumers by implementing illegal barriers to finding a home, a practice made all the more egregious by the fact that we are in the midst of a severe housing crisis,' Attorney General Peter Neronha said in a statement. 'With this settlement, not only are we returning nearly $100,000 to Rhode Island consumers, we are barring this company from further engaging in behaviors that we allege are illegal and discriminatory. We must make it easier, not harder, for people to obtain safe, affordable housing, and that's why my Office will continue to hold accountable bad actors who place profits over people. Let this settlement serve as a warning to those who may still be engaging in illegal housing practices; we won't stand for it, and we won't hesitate to take further action.'
Michael Gamboli, a partner at Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP in Providence representing A.R. Building Co., did not immediately return inquiries for comment Friday.
The company owns more than 800 apartments, condominiums and townhouses across five complexes in Rhode Island: East Providence's Kettle Point and Newport Avenue Apartments, Dowling Village in Smithfield, Highland Hills in Cumberland and Reynolds Farm in North Kingstown.
State residents who paid application or administrative fees as part of an application to any of the local properties from Jan. 1 2024 to Jan. 30, 2025, should contact the property manager where they applied to receive a refund. Applicants have until July 1 to claim their refunds; unclaimed money will be donated to the Special Olympics of Rhode Island.
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