In New York, unlike nearly every other part of the country, tenants usually pay the fee even though landlords usually hire the broker. Tenants and advocates rallying outside City Hall ahead of the vote said that’s the problem.

The City Council overwhelmingly passed a measure to shift the burden of broker fees to landlords. Here’s what that means for renters.

The City Council approved a bill on Wednesday that would curb a loathed New York City real estate practice: making renters pay thousands of dollars in broker fees. The post New York City Council approves bill shifting broker fees to landlords appeared first on Boston.

Landlords can no longer tack on thousands of dollars in fees to new tenants to pay brokers who show rental units.

Mandatory broker fees, an unusual feature of New York City apartment hunting long reviled by renters, will be banned under legislation that passed Wednesday after overcoming fierce backlash from the city's real estate lobby.

The New York City Council has outlawed the practice of landlords passing broker fees onto residential tenants in New York City.

The New York City Council passed a bill Wednesday to make renting an apartment a little easier. The bill, known as the FARE Act, requires landlords to pay the fee when they hire a real estate broker to market their properties.

In a City Council hearing on a bill introduced to ban New York’s broker fee structure, Councilmember Chi Ossé described the fee structure as “an exploitative system that exists virtually nowhere else.” In Boston, legislation that would’ve banned the practice failed to advance earlier this year in the Massachusetts State Senate.