Landlord Agrees To Cough Up Nearly $1 Million To Settle Class Action Suit Alleging It Squeezed About 14,000 Tenants With Bogus Charges By Loading Leases With Illegal Terms

In Iowa City, Iowa, the Press-Citizen reports:

• Past and future tenants of Apartments Downtown will benefit from a settlement approved by a district court judge last week, their attorney said Monday.
  
  The settlement includes $65 repayments to about 14,000 tenants who rented from Apartments Downtown and Apartments Near Campus, which have the same owner, from 2010 to 2014 and also establishes a new and unique complaint process, said Chris Warnock, an attorney with the Iowa Tenants' Project who represented tenants in the case.
  
  The repayments are the result of lease provisions ruled to be illegal that included charging an automatic carpet-cleaning fee, regardless of whether the carpet was clean; shifting responsibility for repair and maintenance to tenants, including in common areas of a building; and a variety of illegal fees, penalties and other charges.
  
  Tenants who rented from 2010 to 2014 can find more information and register to collect repayment at adisettlement.com, and will be asked to provide a building address and apartment number.
  
  Warnock said the repayments are expected to total about $1 million.

For more, see Attorney: Apartments Downtown settlement good news for tenants.