If you've rented in the last decade, you've likely used reviews of companies and apartments to help narrow down your renting options.
But have you ever left a review yourself? Before you do, make sure you read the fine print of your lease.
For Spencer, he thought everything was going smoothly when he found a place to rent in the Valley.
"It was fully furnished, it was everything I needed," he recalled.
When it came time to move out, Spencer says he was caught off-guard by the move-out charges. Beyond paint and cleaning, he was being charged for batteries and light bulb replacements.
Spencer says he brought his concerns to the property management company, Rosenbaum Realty Group.
He also wrote a review online.
"I wasn't saying any curse words, I wasn't trying to call them out, I just explained what I went through and how I was kind of thrown off," he explained.
After posting the review, Spencer says he received a call from the management company reminding him of a clause in his lease.
An addendum in the lease reads in part: The "Owner, tenant, and management... each is prohibited from making disparaging remarks/statements or publications regarding the other."
The lease says, if the remark is not removed within 72 hours of a request for its removal, there could be a penalty of $300 per day for each remark.
Spencer researched clauses and saw a previous story by our Let Joe Know team which questioned the legality of non-disparagement clauses in leases.
"I actually sent them an article about the like the Consumer Protection Act or something, where they can't charge you for comments," said Spencer.
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He's talking about the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 which says it's illegal for companies to include contract provisions that impose a penalty or fee for someone giving an honest review.
Ken Volk, with Arizona Tenants Advocates, says clauses like this may not be enforceable because they may infringe on First Amendment rights.
"You can put anything in a lease unless it's contrary to law. A non-disparagement clause is a contractual issue where the parties agree, so the question is, when does it become a deprivation of the tenants' rights?" Volk questioned.
We asked the Rosenbaum Realty group about the clause.
In a call, a spokesperson tells us they have never enforced it and never charged a tenant for a review. The person added they have now taken the clause out of their leases entirely.
As for Spencer, he says he now reads every contract thoroughly.
Know your rights! If you have a question about what's required of a landlord, what to do if an appliance breaks and it's not getting fixed, or a legal question, you can read the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act here.
