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New York City Council Votes to End Broker Fees Squeezing Renters

(www.bloomberg.com)
258 points JumpCrisscross | 1 comments | 13 Nov 24 21:38 UTC | HN request time: 0.2s | source
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kelnos ◴[14 Nov 24 01:51 UTC] No.42132344[source]▶
I never understood why landlord brokers are even a thing in a market like NYC. I live in SF and I've never heard of such a thing here, and we probably have a similar market when it comes to landlords getting to take advantage of high demand when it comes to listing visibility and negotiation.

Why do landlords think they need a broker in order to rent out their units in NYC? I would think demand is so high there that listings on all the regular-suspect listing sites would be more than sufficient to get their units rented quickly and at a price they're happy with.

No-fee listings seem to be a thing in NYC, but appear to be for a small minority of units.

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1. paxys ◴[14 Nov 24 03:41 UTC] No.42132956[source]▶
> Why do landlords think they need a broker in order to rent out their units in NYC?

Because they know that the fee will be paid by the tenant, so why not?

> I live in SF and I've never heard of such a thing here

BTW brokers are very common in SF as well, usually called "leasing agent" or something similar. Every non-corporate rental I ever looked at had a broker involved at some level, e.g. organizing open houses, doing private tours, sending out application forms, vetting applicants, sending out lease agreements. It's just that you as the tenant don't have to know or care because you aren't the one footing the bill.