The Federal Trade Commission closed out January with a bang. Today, the agency announced that it submitted two Advanced Notices of Proposed rulemaking (“ANPRM”) to the Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") for review: one on rental housing fees and one on negative option plans. This wasn’t a shocker. As previously reported, we saw this coming. 

Rental Housing Fees: Enforcement Spreading Beyond Traditional Boundaries

The FTC’s $24 million settlement with Greystar over hidden rental fees was more than just a headline. It was a signal flare that the FTC was looking at junk fee practices in many industries – not just the ticketing and hospitality industries covered by the Junk Fee Rule or the types of companies previously scrutinized. As I noted in my prior blog post about Greystar, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson explicitly referenced in his concurring statement his plan to direct staff to begin proposing a rule to tackle undisclosed fees in rental housing market. He clearly meant what he said, and single family rental property companies are well advised to pay attention.

Negative Option Plans: No Shock Given Last Year’s Enforcement Activity

Likewise, the negative option ANPRM shouldn’t surprise anyone. Even though 8^th Circuit knocked down the FTC’s earlier “Click to Cancel” rule on procedural grounds, the pattern of enforcement made clear that negative option marketing enforcement wasn’t going anywhere. That, coupled with the little Easter Egg I wrote about in the Amazon settlement, signaled the FTC's plans for rulemaking in this space. The new ANPRM submitted to OMB confirms: the FTC is gearing up to revisit the Negative Option Rule, not walk away from it.

What's Next and Why Should You Care?

Next up is a public comment period, once OMB clears the ANPRMs and the FTC publishes them. That will give businesses, platforms, and trade groups a chance to weigh in on where the agency draws the lines. But no one should expect enforcement to pause while rulemaking plays out. The FTC has been clear that it views both rental fee disclosures and negative option practices as active consumer protection priorities, and enforcement actions will continue in parallel. The real inflection point will come when the rules are finalized, which is likely. At that point, the stakes increase materially because civil penalties become available, and the FTC gains a clearer path to federal court for violations. Buckle up!