The tenancy is wanted and the base rent is accepted — what has never been totalled is everything stacked on top of it, scattered across the lease, a fee addendum, and the marketing page, in one-time, monthly, and per-occurrence types that are easy to confuse. This guide totals every recurring non-rent charge per month and per 12 months, in plain numbers next to the base rent, and flags the rest as questions to ask, by reading the lease and any fee schedule or addendum together. Send us the lease and the fee schedule together — one without the other cannot be checked.
The pack checklist for a fees-on-top-of-rent review, in order. You need both documents — the lease itself and any fee schedule or addendum. The answers are in whether their wording agrees.
Total every recurring non-rent charge in the papers per month and per 12 months, in plain numbers, next to the base rent. That single total is the number no document in the pile usually states — the review states it first, before any other flag.
Write down each charge exactly as labelled and exactly as timed. Flag the same charge labelled a deposit in one document, a fee in another, and rent in a third, and flag one-time charges written where a renter will read them as monthly, and the reverse.
Check each fee against every document: a fee appearing in the fee addendum, or on a first statement, that appears nowhere in the lease or in the quoted terms you were shown is flagged as a question to ask, never as a violation.
Flag two or more lines that on their face pay for the same service — for example a trash line and a valet line and a waste line that all describe waste removal in your papers — stated as worth one question before signing, with no claim about what the landlord intended.
Find fees defined by reference, such as per the community fee schedule, as amended, uncapped per-occurrence charges, and charges triggered by the landlord’s own processes — payment-processing, statement, and similar administration lines — quoted from your own papers, exactly as written.
Where the lease itself or an addendum contains a fee-disclosure statement, check the charged lines against that statement — agreement or gap, flagged as a question, never a legality call. If no disclosure statement is in the papers, that absence is noted as written, not filled in from elsewhere.
The pattern underneath all six: the review reads the lease and the fee schedule you were actually given, together, totals the charges as written, and flags where the papers appear to agree or disagree — it never declares a fee lawful or unlawful.
This example is a clearly labelled hypothetical, with invented figures. It shows how the total is laid out — it is not a real tenant’s figures, and it proves nothing about any real lease:
Treat each point below as a “check whether…” question, never as a conclusion about papers you have not read in full:
Check whether any document you were shown states the recurring total per month and per 12 months next to the base rent, or whether the total only appears when the lines are added together — as a question to ask in writing, never as a determination.
Check whether a charge called a deposit in one document is called a fee or rent in another, and whether a one-time charge reads as monthly, or the reverse, in any document — the contradiction itself is the flag.
Check whether a fee in the addendum or on a statement appears nowhere in the lease or quoted terms, and whether two or more lines describe the same service on their face. As an example only: California has its own rental rules that do not apply in other states, and a city rule can be stricter.
Check whether any charge is defined by reference to a schedule that can change, is uncapped per occurrence, or is triggered by the landlord’s own billing process, and check the charged lines against any fee-disclosure statement contained in the papers themselves.
Copy these into an email or portal message so the answers are in writing. Calm and factual — no threats, no demand-letter language.
Send us the lease and any fee schedule or addendum together, get every clause flagged OK / Caution / Red flag for $9 — in plain English, with every charge on top of rent totalled per month and per 12 months next to the base rent, type confusion and document mismatches flagged, duplication and open-ended wording quoted, disclosure wording cross-checked, and the questions to take back to your landlord in writing. No outcome promise, no savings promise, no demand letter, no negotiation, no withholding advice, and no filing service.
LeaseLens is not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Reports are plain-English risk flags from a concierge review, not a legal ruling on your lease or your fees.
Start a review →Total every non-rent charge in your lease and any fee schedule or addendum together: recurring monthly charges, one-time move-in charges, and per-occurrence charges kept separate. Add the recurring charges per month and per 12 months and set that total next to the base rent — no single document in the pile usually states that total. This guide flags the total and any mismatch as questions to ask in writing; it never declares a fee lawful or unlawful.
Check whether the same fee appears in the lease, the fee schedule, and the terms you were quoted, and whether it is labelled the same way in each place — a deposit in one document, a fee in another, and rent in a third is a flag. Ask in writing where the fee is stated and which document controls, before signing.
Wording that does not state a fixed amount in the papers you sign — for example a charge defined by reference to a community fee schedule as amended, or an uncapped per-occurrence charge. Quote that wording from your own papers and flag it as a question to ask in writing; this guide does not rule on whether the charge can be applied.