I am going to sign a lease on a no fee apartment in NYC and my broker is charging me 15%. Can he do this?
I thought no fee means the landlord/management company pays the broker?
Please advise.
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Sign up to join this communityI am going to sign a lease on a no fee apartment in NYC and my broker is charging me 15%. Can he do this?
I thought no fee means the landlord/management company pays the broker?
Please advise.
If you used an outside broker to find the apartment, meaning a broker not affiliated with the landlord/management company, then they are allowed to list it as a No Fee apartment with a Collect Your Own Fee option (CYOF). So it will be "No Fee" if you use their broker, but using an outside broker means the broker has to collect their fee from you rather than the landlord. The landlord, in this case, is covering the fees of the listing broker (their broker). But, if you chose to use your own broker, they aren't covering that.
You need to review the listing for that apartment. Is it truly a No Fee listing, or is it a No Fee / CYOF listing? If it's a true No Fee listing, then you should challenge your broker on this attempt to collect from you.
https://streeteasy.com/guides/renters-guide/what-is-a-no-fee-listing/
Collect Your Own Fee (COYF): This means the landlord or property manager of a no-fee property will allow outside brokers to bring prospective tenants to see the apartment (see listing below). Even though it might be listed as no-fee, you could still get stuck paying a fee. Again, this is the research and sleuthing you need to do to make sure you are not being shown no-fee listings by a broker.