The FARE Act: who pays the broker fee

New York City's FARE Act (Local Law 119 of 2024): since June 11, 2025 a broker who works for the landlord cannot charge the tenant, every fee must be disclosed, and DCWP enforces it.

The FARE Act — the Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses Act — is the New York City law that decides who pays a real estate broker when an apartment is rented. Since June 11, 2025, a broker who works for the landlord, or who lists the apartment with the landlord's permission, may not charge the tenant. The party who hires the broker pays the broker.

Before the law, a tenant in New York City commonly paid the landlord's broker a fee of one month's rent or more — the Council put it at up to 15% of a year's rent — on top of the first month and the deposit. For tenants the law cuts what it costs to move. For landlords and managing agents it moves the cost of leasing up to them, and adds a duty to disclose every fee in writing.

The law

The FARE Act is Local Law 119 of 2024. The Council passed it on November 13, 2024 by 42 votes to 8; the Mayor neither signed nor vetoed it within the 30 days the City Charter allows, so it became law on December 13, 2024, and it took effect 180 days later, on June 11, 2025. It added a new subchapter to the consumer-protection title of the Administrative Code. The Council record shows no amendment since.

The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), the City agency that licenses businesses and enforces consumer law, enforces it.

Who pays the broker

Under the FARE Act, the broker's client pays the broker.

A broker fee is what a licensed real estate broker or salesperson is paid for finding a tenant for an apartment, or an apartment for a tenant; broker fees are often a share of a year's rent. Under the FARE Act:

a landlord's agent — the listing broker, or a broker working with the listing broker to find a tenant — may not charge or collect any fee from the tenant for the rental;
a broker who publishes a listing with the landlord's permission may not charge the tenant either, and the law presumes that a broker who lists an apartment has that permission, unless the broker can show otherwise;
the landlord is itself in violation when its broker, or any broker listing with its permission, charges the tenant;
no one may make renting an apartment conditional on the tenant hiring a broker, including a broker who acts for both sides;
a listing may not say that the tenant must pay a fee the law forbids.

A tenant may still choose to hire a broker to search on the tenant's behalf and pay that broker. DCWP's current guidance adds that such a broker may not keep particular apartments available only to tenants who sign up.

What a tenant may still be charged

The law also requires fee disclosure. Every rental listing must show, clearly, any fee the tenant will have to pay. Before the lease is signed, the landlord or its broker must give the tenant an itemized written list of every fee — to the landlord or to anyone the landlord directs — which the tenant signs before the lease; the landlord keeps it for three years and gives the tenant a copy.

The fees a tenant can lawfully be asked for are few, and they come from State law:

a background and credit check — the actual cost or $20, whichever is less, and none if the applicant brings a check done in the last 30 days;
a security deposit of no more than one month's rent, returned within 14 days of moving out with an itemized list of anything kept;
a late fee only when rent is at least five days late, of no more than $50 or 5% of the month's rent, whichever is less.

Penalties and complaints

The law caps the civil penalty at $1,000 for a first illegal-fee violation and $2,000 for each later one within two years, and at $500 and $1,000 for disclosure violations; DCWP can also order the fee refunded. DCWP's penalty schedule, in force since July 10, 2025, sets:

Violation	First	Second	Third on
Fee, listing or forced broker	$750	$1,800	$2,000
Fee disclosure	$375	$900	$1,000

A respondent who does not answer the summons pays the cap for a first or second violation instead. DCWP issues a summons, heard at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH). A tenant can also sue in court. Complaints go to DCWP online or through 311; DCWP asks for texts, screenshots, receipts and the broker's details.

DCWP said in February 2026 that since the law took effect it had received more than 1,400 complaints about illegal broker fees and filed 50 summonses against brokers, landlords and property managers. Broker fee complaints are not in BlockLot's records, so this page has no BlockLot Intelligence figure.

The lawsuit

The law was challenged in federal court. On June 10, 2025, the day before it took effect, the court refused to block it while the case went on, and DCWP has enforced it since. DCWP's pages, updated in June 2026, describe the law as in force.

An example

A one-bedroom apartment listed at $3,000 a month by the landlord's broker. Before June 11, 2025, the tenant might have been asked for a broker fee of 15% of a year's rent — $5,400 — on top of the first month and the deposit: $11,400 to move in. Under the FARE Act the tenant pays the first month and a deposit of no more than one month, and at most $20 for the credit check: $6,020. The landlord pays its broker, and may build that cost into the rent it asks.

Where you see this in BlockLot

BlockLot does not hold broker fees or complaints, but a building's page is where a renter can check the building before signing a lease: how many homes it has, how many are rent-stabilized, and its open HPD violations and complaints.

Open HPD complaints and DOB complaints on a rental building, on the building's page.
What tenants have reported to HPD

Questions people ask

Do tenants still pay broker fees in New York City? Not to a broker who works for the landlord or lists the apartment with the landlord's permission. Since June 11, 2025, a tenant pays only a broker the tenant chose to hire.

When did the FARE Act take effect? June 11, 2025. It became law on December 13, 2024 without the Mayor's signature, and took effect 180 days later.

Can a landlord require me to use a particular broker? No. Renting an apartment cannot be made conditional on hiring any broker, including one who acts for both sides.

What fees can a landlord still charge? A credit and background check of no more than $20 or its actual cost, a security deposit of no more than one month's rent, and rent. Every fee must be in the listing and on a signed, itemized list before the lease.

What are the fines? $750 for a first illegal-fee violation, $1,800 for a second and $2,000 after that; $375, $900 and $1,000 for disclosure violations. DCWP can also order the fee refunded.

How do I report an illegal broker fee? File a complaint with DCWP online or through 311, with the texts, receipts and broker's details. A tenant can also sue in court.

NYC Local Laws for building owners — What a New York City Local Law is, how one is made and numbered, and the Local Laws that put duties on building owners — energy and emissions, facades and gas piping, lead paint, mold and pests, storefronts, short-term rentals and broker fees.
Short-term rental registration: Local Law 18 of 2022 — New York City's short-term rental law: what counts as a short-term rental, who may host and register with the Office of Special Enforcement, the Prohibited Buildings List, booking services' duties and the penalties.
Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) — What New York City's housing agency does — enforcing the Housing Maintenance Code, financing affordable homes, running the lotteries and Section 8 — and how every rental building must register with HPD each year, naming its owner and a managing agent.
HPD violations: Class A, B, C and I — What HPD housing violations are, what Class A, B, C and I mean, how long an owner has to fix and certify each, how a violation is closed or dismissed, and what happens when a Class C is ignored.

Sources

By BlockLot. Reviewed October 9, 2026. This page explains the rules in general; it is not legal or tax advice. For a decision about a specific property, check the official source or ask a professional. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.