SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Reading a good book should make you feel connected to the characters. Books by Utah author Erin Stewart do just that.

ARC Salt Lake talked to the BYU graduate and young author about her new book, The Mysterious Magic of Lighthouse Lane.

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Reading a good book should make you feel connected to the characters. Books by Utah author Erin Stewart do just that. (KUTV)

The middle grade novel follows a young empath spending the summer with her grandfather who stumbles onto a bit of magic — and learns what it means to let in the light.

It’s Stewart’s fifth book, and she says each story carries pieces of her own experiences and emotions.

Stewart shared how she found her voice as a writer, what sets the book apart from her previous titles, and what she hopes young readers take away from her stories.

You can learn more about her books at erinstewartbooks.com.

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SALT LAKE CITY — After spending a year living out of her car, Rachel Ortiz said she does everything she can to avoid going back to that life. And that includes keeping a very tight budget.

“Unexpected things come up and I’m able to pay them thankfully, but a lot of people aren’t able to do that,” Ortiz said.

But her carefully planned budget blew up on her when her Salt Lake City apartment turned out to be not as affordable as advertised.

The listed rent price for her place was $869. But each month, Ortiz pays nearly a hundred dollars more to live there – not including utilities.

The reason? Hidden rental fees.

“It’s hard to afford a place nowadays with the rent, and if the inflation is going up,” she said.

The monthly add-ons driving up rent

Ortiz’s monthly fees include $10 for pest control. Another $14 goes to her place’s liability waiver program — an alternative to the required renter’s insurance. And with no adjacent street parking available, she also must pay $25 for parking: covered or uncovered. On top of those fees, there’s a $16 “real estate tax” for her share of the complex’s property taxes.

“I mean, they want to charge you separate for every little thing,” Ortiz said.

She also shares the costs of landscaping, maintenance, snow removal, security and utility bills for her place’s common areas. That fee varies, but last month it came to $32.

“I go to pay this amount, and then you tell me it’s this amount,” she said. “And I have this amount for the rent.”

Fees renters report paying nationwide

Ortiz isn’t alone in having to tackle monthly rent inflated by hidden rental fees. Americans spend hundreds of millions of dollars on rental fees every year, according to a National Consumer Law Center study. That same study identified 27 distinct types of fees renters are paying in addition to their rent.

Those include a fee for having a guest over. Some renters pay an additional fee for the landlord to process their rent payments. Some pay for mandatory trash pick-up or valet service even though they want to take their garbage to the dumpster on their own. Some tenants report having to pay fees to receive packages or to get their mail sorted.

What current law protects renters

Since 2021, landlords in Utah have been required to disclose all fees before taking an application fee.

“The tenants, when they are touring those apartment communities, the law is that they have to disclose all the fees,” said Derek Seal of the Utah Rental Housing Association – a leading trade association for landlords, property managers and others linked to the rental housing industry. “We want people and tenants to be able to make informed decisions.”

Seal says the current law already prevents a landlord from charging a fee that wasn’t disclosed before the renter signed the lease. On the flip side, if a fee was disclosed in the lease – he says renters really don’t have room to complain.

“They have a responsibility to understand the agreement … that they’re getting into,” he said.

What HB29 would change

But now, HB29 aims to require fee disclosure well before a prospective tenant sees an agreement. It wants it to happen in the advertising.

“It’s setting a standard,” said the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Tyler Clancy, R-Provo. “We’re making sure that they (consumers) have an expectation that the marketplace is being honest and transparent.”

HB29 bans hidden rental fees by requiring a listing or an advertisement for a rental to disclose the total price.

“When you’re not being upfront about your price, that could be anti-competitive in nature because you’re not really advertising your product,” Clancy said. “Setting an expectation that families can know if something fits into their budget or not, I think that’s a reasonable thing.”

“The extra fees then should be baked into the price,” said Katie Hass, who leads Utah’s Division of Consumer Protection — which will enforce HB29 if it passes.

They have a responsibility to understand the agreement … that they’re getting into.

–Derek Seal, Utah Rental Housing Association

She says the listed rental price must reflect the real price a tenant will have to pay to live there, excluding personal utilities. And that price, she said, cannot be a range that depends on variable or seasonal fees.

“You (landlords) get to set your own prices,” she said. “You just have to be truthful what’s included in that price and what’s optional at the end of the transaction.”

Federal scrutiny and Greystar’s response

At least eleven other states have similar laws about disclosing hidden rental fees in listings or ads. And in December, the Federal Trade Commission and the State of Colorado reached a $24 million settlement with rental housing giant Greystar over allegations it deceived renters with hidden fees.

“These little fees, at the end, they create a bitterness to our economy that we don’t want here in Utah,” Hass said.

KSL reached out to Greystar about the settlement, who pointed us to their Dec. 2, 2025 statement that reads in part, “The agreement contains no admission of wrongdoing, and Greystar continues to maintain, as it has from the start of this matter, that its advertising has always been transparent, fair, and fully consistent with the longstanding industrywide practice of advertising base rent to potential residents.”

In that same statement, Greystar also says the agreement clarifies the FTC’s position “that federal law requires displaying the Total Monthly Leasing Price, including base rent and all mandatory fees, when advertising housing for rent.”

One renter’s reaction as ownership changes

As for Rachel Ortiz, she does feel bitterness toward all the fees she has to pay on top of her rent.

“It’s become like really greedy,” she lamented. “They start thinking with this (pointing to her head) and stop thinking with this (tapping her heart).”

She just recently learned her home has been bought out by Greystar. She now hopes her new landlord will be more transparent.

“It’s just too much,” she said.

What renters can do right now

If passed, HB29 would not take effect until July 1, 2026.

As a renter, the best thing you can do is, before touring a place, contact the landlord and request a full breakdown of all monthly costs you’re expected to pay, as well as any one-time fees, such as a lease initiation fee. And it doesn’t hurt to try to negotiate. Ask whether they’ll consider waiving a fee or maybe lowering the rent to offset the fee costs.

Derek Seal said the Utah Rental Housing Association maintains a fund that reimburses application fees for renters who did not receive full disclosure when they applied. You can apply on their webpage.