Exclusive | NYCs new broker fee law already being flouted by sneaky real estate agents: Exploiting a loophole

Well this is just un-FARE.Sneaky New York City landlords have been using tricky tactics to get around a new law that bans them from charging broker fees to renters, The Post has learned.Some prospective renters have reported being faced with thousands of dollars in “management” or “technology” fees — that look awfully similar to those previously charged by landlords to pay for real estate brokers.“They’re exploiting a loophole in the law,” said Todd Roulich, a tenant broker in New York, of landlords and agents.Others have reported being told to sign forms stating that they were the ones to hire the broker — even when that wasn’t true.The so-called FARE Act — or Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses — prohibits renters from being charged a “broker fee” — which is typically about 15% of the annual cost of a unit.But the city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, the agency responsible for enforcing the FARE Act, told The Post it has received nearly 300 “questions and complaints” about violations of the new law since it went into effect June 11.Queens native Kelly McGarry told The Post she met brokers at two different apartment showings this month — both of which used sneaky methods to try to collect a fee.McGarry, 27, reported that each one of the agents she met with tried to get her to sign paperwork saying she hired them, even though she hadn’t.“I’ve applied for apartments in the past before, and I’ve never had to verify anything … of that sort,” McGarry said.“They knew the FARE Act was coming, and they were prepared to do what they could to get around it.”One Zillow listing for an apartment in Bayside, Queens blatantly reads: “For compensation as ‘Service/Broker Fee’, you as Renter agrees to hire Jack as Broker [sic].”Another listing, in Brooklyn’s Prospect Lefferts Gardens, even appeared to ask for a security deposit and first months’ rent as a mysterious lump sum of $5,040 — followed by $1...