Added bills for tenants

The Guardian - An investigation co-published by the Guardian and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, a journalism non-profit that supports stories about inequality and poverty in the US, has revealed a problem emerging nationwide: fees that are known as “ratio utility billing system” fees – or Rubs – which are charged on top of rent.

Rubs, unlike standard utility bills, where tenants owe money to the utility company, are owed to the landlord and often paid through a third-party billing company. Many leases that include Rubs are written so tenants can be evicted for not paying utilities, even if they have paid their rent.

For working-class and low-income tenants like Constance Soule, an 81-year-old disabled Alzheimer’s patient, falling behind on these utility charges can lead to eviction notices, Tracie McMillan reports. “It just kept adding up,” Margot Jones, Soule’s sister, said.

Tenants in Los Angeles and Seattle have launched “Rubs strikes”, refusing to pay utilities until landlords agree to reduce charges that can approach $300 a month per apartment.

At least 13 lawsuits have challenged Rubs since the start of 2025 across five states – including a case in California that led to a nearly $500,000 settlement last fall with a national property manager. “Some California landlords have tried to get away with illegal rent increases by shifting utilities and other fees to tenants and pretending those new charges are not ‘rent’” under state law, Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, said when announcing the settlement. Efforts to limit or ban add-on utility fees are also gaining momentum across several cities.