Who pays the broker fee in New York now? The FARE Act, explained.

For decades, New York renters paid a broker they never hired.

You found the apartment online.
The agent worked for the landlord.
And you got the bill.

Anywhere from one month’s rent to 15% of a full year’s rent. On top of first month and security.

On June 11, 2025, that ended. Here is exactly what changed, and what it means if you are searching right now.

What the law says

The FARE Act comes down to one line. Whoever hires the broker pays the broker.

If the landlord’s agent lists the apartment, you cannot be charged that agent’s fee. And the city presumes that any agent who posts a listing is working for the landlord.

Two more rules matter just as much:

1. Fees in the listing. Every fee you will have to pay must be disclosed clearly in the ad.
2. Fees in writing. Before you sign, the landlord has to give you an itemized list of every fee, and you acknowledge it in writing.

Break the rules and the city can fine you. $750 for a first violation. $1,800 for a second. $2,000 after that.

That is $7,470 a renter no longer has to find before getting the keys.

For renters

Here is what I would tell any friend searching right now.

1. Read the fees first. If a listing does not say what you will pay, ask in writing.
2. Know the line. A landlord’s agent cannot charge you their fee. Period.
3. Know the other caps. In New York, a security deposit can be no more than 1 month’s rent, and application and background check fees are capped at $20.
4. Hiring your own broker is still allowed. If you hire them, you pay them. Now it is a choice, not a tax.
5. Charged anyway? File a complaint with the city or call 311.

One more thing to watch. The broker fee almost disappeared. Other fees did not.

Listings demanding a broker fee fell from 2.2% to 0.06% in two years. Over the same stretch, listings with another mandatory fee on top of rent went from 0.7% to 6.7%.

That is about 1 in 15 listings.

For brokers and landlords

If you hired the broker, the fee is yours now.

A lot of owners tried to make it back through rent. Units that used to carry a broker fee came back on the market asking 8.0% more, compared with 3.7% for units that never had one. The researchers call that a ceiling on how much of the fee got passed through, not proof that all of it did.

Here is how I see it.

Raising the rent is the slow way to pay for a broker.
Filling the unit faster is the real way.

Every empty day costs you money. Cut the days, and the fee matters a lot less.

“The broker fee didn't die. It changed its name.”

About Gabe Einhorn

Co-founder of Nessoo, the verify-first rental marketplace in New York. He writes every Nessoo Report. nessoo.com