photo by Ryan Maxwell
“Dear PoPville,
Tricky billing systems have been used by large DC landlords to make tenants pay for the building’s overall operational costs for years. A new law from Charles Allen’s office completely bans those hidden, unpredictable fees. Landlords must now be completely honest about the total cost of your housing upfront.
The city rolled out protections in two separate parts to give landlords time to update their systems:
Step 1 (Started August 14, 2026): Landlords can no longer charge you separate monthly “service” or “admin” fees just to process your bills. Extra charges for trash collection, utility administration, or account setup feesare officially illegal.
Step 2 (Starts January 1, 2027): Landlords are strictly banned from billing you for utilities used in common areas(like the lobby, hallways, gym, or pool) or inside vacant, empty apartments.
However, landlords being landlords are trying recoup the money lost from the ban on CAM fees, a rising trend among corporate landlords is introducing entirely new, vaguely named line items on lease renewals. Instead of “common area maintenance,” they label these as HVAC Fees, Chill Water Charges, or Thermal Energy Fees. Landlords claim these fees cover the energy required to pre-heat or pre-cool air and water before it enters an individual apartment unit.
Because the law specifically protects structural services tied to “habitability” (like basic heating, cooling, and water delivery), DC AG warns that adding separate service fees for standard heating or cooling infrastructure is heavily suspect. If a fee is mandatory for the apartment to be livable, it cannot be charged as a separate add-on.
I am trying to track this shift and looking for renters who have seen these new charges. If your landlord has recently added an HVAC or Thermal fee to your ledger, let me (ig: @deathandlifeofdc) know:
Did they add it mid-lease, or is it part of a new lease renewal?
Are they using a third-party billing company (like ConService or RealPage) to charge it?
Renters can take immediate action by reporting these new HVAC and thermal charges to the DC Office of the Attorney General (OAG). Under DC consumer protection laws, it is illegal for landlords to hide standard, mandatory building operations behind vague “service fees.” If enough tenants submit copies of their utility statements, the Attorney General can investigate the property management companies and sue them to drop the fees.
They can fight back locally by forming an official Tenant Association in their buildings. By banding together with neighbors, you can gain the collective bargaining power to refuse lease renewals that include confusing math formulas or newly invented thermal fees.
Corporate landlords have a much harder time exploiting an organized building than a single tenant acting alone. People can reach out to me on IG if they need help organizing their buildings!”