Tenants will no longer be forced to pay a broker’s fee when renting an apartment in New York City, a report said Wednesday.
The ruling — which was made on Friday and went into effect Wednesday — came as a welcome reprieve for city residents who have been forced to plunk down broker costs in addition to a security deposit and first month’s rent, according to The Wall Street Journal.
New York is one of a few cities in the US where residents are charged a fee to rent an apartment. The move is the latest push in creating more favorable rules for tenants.
The apartment listing site StreetEasy said about 45 percent of New York City rental listings last year included a broker’s fee.
Renters may still, however, choose to hire a broker to help them rent an apartment and then pay a fee.
Landlord groups said the change would force them to raise rents on their apartments.
“You might have some owners who decide to just try to do it on their own,“ Andrew Barrocas, founder of the brokerage MNS, told the Journal.
“I’m leasing thousands of apartments a year and all of these landlords, if they thought they could do it better themselves, they would.”
Kindly Support Our Blog by Browsing the Ads.
No comments:
Post a Comment