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To be fair to the original point, one could argue that sticker price of rent is more sticky than the imputed cost, and so this is a sneaky way of raising rent that doesn't reduce demand as much.

But that's a more complicated case to make than "kickbacks therefore bad".

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> so this is a sneaky way of raising rent that doesn't reduce demand as much.

You could say a similar thing about laundry room charges where there isn't any competition. And also no specific disclosure as well (unless you ask) therefore is that sneaky? What I am saying is non disclosure does not mean "sneaky".

But another point is this: If enough buildings are doing this, such that an article like the parent post is being written, it then becomes something that a careful apartment shopper should or would consider when pricing apartments "total cost of rental".

You know if you buy an expensive luxury car they don't specifically point out that you will have to pay fees to keep your warranty current (Porsche, Mercedes as two examples). So is that sneaky? After all BMW (as a high end competitor) includes all maintenance.

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