NYC Affordability

The rule, in one sentence

Whoever hires the broker pays the broker. If the landlord’s agent listed the apartment, the landlord’s agent gets paid by the landlord, not you. You only owe a broker fee if you independently choose to hire your own tenant’s broker to help you search.

Before June 11, 2025, NYC was one of the only rental markets in the country where landlords routinely passed their own listing broker’s fee (commonly 12–15% of annual rent) onto the tenant at signing, regardless of whether the tenant asked for a broker’s help. The FARE Act (Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses Act) ended that specific practice.

What this does and doesn’t cover

• Landlord/listing agent fee: now paid by the landlord, always. A tenant cannot be charged this fee under any listing arrangement.
• Your own tenant’s broker: still legal, and you still pay for it if you hire one. The law doesn’t cap or ban broker fees generally, it just ties payment to who did the hiring.
• Other move-in costs: first month’s rent, a security deposit (capped at one month’s rent under a separate 2019 law, the HSTPA), and application fees (capped at $20) are unaffected by the FARE Act; those existed before and still apply.

Landlords responded by folding what used to be a separate line-item broker fee into either the advertised rent or their own marketing cost, so don’t assume the FARE Act automatically nets out to zero change in total housing cost. It removes one specific, previously-mandatory charge from the tenant’s move-in bill. It also doesn’t touch income screening. Landlords still qualify tenants the same way they always have; see our 40x rent rule guide for how that separate hurdle works.

How to tell if a fee you’re being asked to pay is legal

Before signing anything or wiring a fee, check who actually retained the broker:

• If you found the listing through a broker who represents the landlord (the person who posted it, showed it, and negotiated on the landlord’s behalf), you owe that broker nothing. The landlord pays them, full stop.
• If you independently contacted a broker and asked them to search on your behalf, and that broker brings you a listing (including one where the landlord also has their own agent), you can be charged for your broker’s work. That’s the tenant’s-broker exception.
• A landlord or their agent asking you to sign anything characterizing a listing-agent fee as a “move-in fee,” “administrative fee,” or similar relabeled charge is exactly the workaround the law and DCWP enforcement are watching for. If in doubt, ask directly in writing who retained the broker before you agree to pay anything.

Why this was unusual to begin with

Landlord-paid listing broker fees are standard in most major U.S. rental markets: a landlord who wants professional help renting out a unit pays for that help, the same way a seller pays a listing agent in a home sale. New York City had been a longstanding exception, where the tenant was expected to cover the landlord’s own broker’s commission as a condition of renting, even when the tenant never asked for or wanted that broker’s involvement. The FARE Act brought NYC in line with how the rest of the country already handles this cost, rather than introducing a novel restriction.

Worked example

Take a $3,500/month apartment where the landlord used a listing broker charging the standard 15% of annual rent.

Before the FARE Act, a tenant’s move-in cash typically included:

• First month’s rent: $3,500
• Security deposit (1 month, HSTPA cap): $3,500
• Landlord’s broker fee passed to tenant (15% × $42,000 annual rent): $6,300
• Total: $13,300

After the FARE Act, assuming the tenant doesn’t hire their own broker:

• First month’s rent: $3,500
• Security deposit: $3,500
• Broker fee: $0
• Total: $7,000

That’s a $6,300 reduction (47% less cash needed at signing) for the identical apartment. If a tenant does choose to hire their own broker at the same 15% rate, the total goes right back to $13,300; the FARE Act didn’t make broker fees disappear, it just made them optional and tied to choice rather than the landlord’s listing arrangement.

Where the law stands now

The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) sued to block the FARE Act in federal court shortly after it passed, arguing it violated the First Amendment, was preempted by state law, and impaired existing listing contracts. The district court dismissed the First Amendment and preemption claims and refused to pause the law, and in July 2026 the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed both rulings. One narrower claim (that the law unconstitutionally impairs tenant-pays listing agreements signed before it took effect) is still pending in the lower court, and REBNY has said it will “explore pathways to continue our legal challenge.”

None of that changes the rule for a tenant today. The law has been in full effect since June 11, 2025, and NYC’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection has continued issuing violations and fee refunds throughout the litigation. With the core constitutional challenges now rejected on appeal, the rule described above is very unlikely to change through this lawsuit, though it’s worth checking DCWP’s FARE Act page if you see news of a further appeal.