NYC broker fee law which protects tenants from costs challenged by real estate agents in 11th-hour push

These agents are trying to broker a last-minute deal.New York City’s real estate industry is making an 11th-hour bid to halt a new law that shifts the burden of costly broker fees away from renters before it takes effect next month.The Real Estate Board of New York, the city’s powerful group of over 10,000 real estate professionals, filed a motion earlier this month seeking to put the Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses Act on pause until the court battle over the law plays out.Here’s everything you need to now about the new rules — which will launch on June 11 unless a federal judge agrees to REBNY’s motion.The FARE Act — passed in City Council with a veto-proof majority of 42-8 on Nov.13 — prohibits agents representing property owners from charging prospective renters a “broker fee.” It also requires that all fees a tenant owes be included in rental agreements and real estate listings.Proponents of the legislation say it will help ease the city’s housing crisis by cutting down prohibitive up-front costs for tenants, including broker fees — which are typically about 15% of the annual cost of a rental unit, according to real estate website OpenIgloo.But critics of the law argue landlords may still sneak in broker fees onto tenants through higher monthly rents.

Andrew Lieb, managing attorney of boutique real estate litigation law firm Lieb at Law, declares the Big Apple rental market will be “forever changed” by the FARE Act.“It will result in tenants losing access to housing from landlords who simply decide it’s not worth it to be a landlord anymore,” Lieb told The Post.“New York City is really making it impossible for a residential landlord to operate given the plethora of red tape that needs to be navigated just to sign a lease — and then enforcing that lease is a whole other disaster.”Unless a federal judge rules otherwise, landlords will be barred from passing on the fee to a tenant after June 11, even if a lease was sig...