Progress Residential’s owner, Pretium Partners, has agreed to pay $48.5 million toward Federal Trade Commission refunds for renters of the company’s single-family homes, in a proposed deal over hidden fees and deposit charges. The FTC announced the settlement on Nov. 6 together with Arizona, Colorado, Indiana and Utah. Counting a $1.25 million payment to Arizona, Progress and Pretium would pay $49.75 million in all, once a federal judge signs off.
The money is not available yet, and the FTC has not described any claim form, deadline or list of eligible renters. What the agency has published is an order that is still a proposal, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, which takes legal force only after the judge approves it. The FTC’s commission voted 2-0 to authorize it.
That leaves a plain question for anyone who has rented one of the company’s houses: did you pay a monthly fee that was not in the advertised rent, or did a deposit come back short? The FTC says Progress is the nation’s largest single-family rental manager, with more than 90,000 homes in 17 states, so the pool of past and current tenants is large. Records of fees paid and move-out charges are the first thing worth pulling together.
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What did the FTC say renters were charged?
The FTC alleges that since at least 2021 the advertised monthly rent left out mandatory fees, including a monthly “smart home” or “utility management” fee and a “renter’s insurance exemption fee.” Many tenants learned about them only when the first bill arrived, the agency says, and it puts the cost to consumers at tens of millions of dollars.
The complaint also says homes were marketed as move-in ready and inspected when many needed significant repairs or cleaning. Slow or missing responses from customer service, the FTC says, then led to billing errors, repair requests that went unfilled and deposit disputes that dragged on. The agency adds that standard lease forms barred tenants from making negative comments about the companies.
How were security deposits handled?
On deposits, the FTC alleges that Progress withheld money for normal wear and tear, for damage that was already there and for renovation work the company should have paid for itself. Many renters, the agency says, never received the itemized statement of deductions they were promised within 30 days of moving out.
Under the proposed order, Progress would have to send an itemized statement of every deposit deduction or account charge within 30 days of move-out, or sooner if state law sets a shorter deadline. It could not deduct for normal wear and tear, preexisting damage or certain renovation and capital improvement costs the renter did not cause. The company would also have to set uniform withholding standards, train staff and keep records of each home’s condition.
What else would change for tenants?
The order would bar the companies from misleading consumers about the true total rental price. Progress would have to show the “true total monthly rental price,” including every mandatory recurring fee, more prominently than other pricing information, and could not claim a home was inspected or passed inspection before move-in when it did not. Standard nondisparagement clauses and certain unfair customer service practices would be banned too.
Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said people searching for housing should have straightforward information about what renting a home costs, and that the agency is watching the rental market. The FTC calls the case the largest enforcement action against a landlord in its history, and says the complaint alleges most of the conduct happened under prior management and that new management has moved to fix the problems.
What does Progress say?
Progress did not admit wrongdoing. A company spokesperson told Reuters its practices have been “transparent, fair and consistent with industry practice,” and the company disagrees with the FTC’s claims, according to the Reuters report. The complaint’s allegations, including that executives received renter complaints from 2022 through 2024, are the FTC’s, and no court has ruled on them.
The FTC is also exploring a rule that would require landlords to list mandatory fees and charges upfront in advertised rents, Reuters reported. A similar case ended in 2024, when Invitation Homes agreed to pay $48 million over hidden fees, and that money is being paid out through an FTC refund program.
How do FTC refunds usually reach renters?
When the FTC collects money for consumers, it typically sends it through a refund program run by an outside administrator. The Invitation Homes program, for example, is listed on the FTC’s refunds page with an administrator, Rust Consulting, and a contact number. Nothing like that exists yet for Progress Residential tenants, so no one needs to send a document or a payment to anyone right now.
The FTC says it does not ask for money up front, and that it will never tell people to transfer money to get a refund. Anyone who gets a call, text or letter about a Progress settlement that demands a fee or a bank login before any official program is announced is looking at a scam, and can report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Rented a Progress Residential home and paid those monthly fees?
If the court approves the deal and the FTC opens a refund program, the notice will carry dates that decide whether a former tenant is paid, and a renter without lease records, fee statements and move-out paperwork has little to point to. Nothing in the proposal says when that notice will arrive.
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System includes the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice and a claim log and payment tracker, built for the stretch between a proposed deal and a check. Its Open Settlements Supplement and filing walkthrough help keep each date and document in one place while the Progress order waits on the judge.
Get the four-date rule and claim tracker for the Progress Residential refund →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
