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City councilors in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville start work to end broker fees for tenants

By adamg on Sat, 11/30/2024 - 10:02am

GBH News reports on efforts by councilors in the three cities, including Boston's Enrique Pepén (Hyde Park, Mattapan, Roslindale) to lift Massachusetts's current standing as the only state where tenants have to pay fees to apartment brokers who work for landlords.

Neighborhoods: 
Boston
Cambridge
Somerville
Topics: 
Home 'n' hearth
Free tagging: 
apartments
Enrique Pepen
City Council


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Comments

By anon on Sat, 11/30/2024 - 10:25am.

The landlords will just roll it into the price, so in effect you'll pay a broker fee add-on cost every year.

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By eddie van halen on Sat, 11/30/2024 - 1:41pm.

on how much the market will bear. If things were this easy then landlords could just decide to roll huge limitless rent increases into the cost so they can get more profit. I think a lot of landlords will do their own screening - as most did in past years. This will force the rental agents to lower their fees - as was the case in past years.

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By SwirlyGrrl on Sat, 11/30/2024 - 7:04pm.

This reduces the up front costs of renting an apartment, which is a barrier for many people who need housing.

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By BostonDog on Sat, 11/30/2024 - 9:42pm.

The more expensive it becomes to change occupants, the less likely they are to force someone out.

And even if it is rolled into rent, how is the renter worse off than the current system where they pay directly?

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By cinnamngrl on Sun, 12/01/2024 - 3:34pm.

A background check is a credit report and a criminal record check. These things can be purchased ala cart. Renters are desperate so they are not providing customers.

By RMM on Mon, 12/02/2024 - 11:33am.

As a landlord (in another part of the state, but with the same issues as metro-Boston), I will continue to use a broker even if I am forced to roll the fee into the rent (read: I'll increase monthly rent on new leases) and so will every other well-informed landlord. Supply of housing is low, demand is high; we'll easily get the extra $100-200 per month.

Other commenters are correct that the broker provides more value for LL's than the tenants: Most LL's don't want to deal with the marketing, vetting screening and then making move in arrangements for tenants (even if the LL lives at the property). But more importantly, many LL's are concerned with discrimination complaints if/when they choose not to rent to someone (with reasonable cause or b/c of racism/discrimination). I'm not apologizing for or condoning racism, ageism, homophobia; but I am pointing out that realtors shield LL's from these sorts of concerns.

Brokers aren't going anywhere. And tenants will continue to pay the brokers' fees until we increase the housing supply to the point where available rental housing=demand for rental housing. Thinking that LL's will just stop using brokers or pay from those brokers without raising rent shows a poor understanding of economics and how it affects human behavior.

By Lee on Mon, 12/02/2024 - 8:00pm.

… a broker?

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By cinnamngrl on Wed, 12/04/2024 - 7:02am.

Paying 2000 plus for free Craig's list post? I suggest you ask for an itemized bill.

By eddie van halen on Sun, 12/08/2024 - 9:40am.

sits on the market for an extra few weeks or month, you lose.

By blues_lead on Wed, 12/04/2024 - 8:49am.

Landlord will be able to negotiate the price with the broker in a way that renters can't, and will be incentivized to do so

By eddie van halen on Sat, 11/30/2024 - 10:51am.

That would put a lot of pretentious, talent-less people out of work. It's become a big scam.

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By emac on Sat, 11/30/2024 - 11:54am.

.

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By Keiko on Sat, 11/30/2024 - 12:18pm.

Realtors want to dump anyone into a unit and move on to the next. Dump and move on so they make more money.

LLs want a good tenant who will stay. That's how they make money. Especially small LLs.

As one, I want to interact with the applicant every step of the way. Gives me a vibe as to whether or not we will work as landlord-tenant and neighbors. Works for the applicant too. If they don't like me, they move on. Just fine.

A neighbor stopped using realtors as she had a high turnover and I didn't. Since she started screening herself, her turnover has gone down.

LLs doing their own screening works much better for everyone (small time anyways. Don't know where that line is).

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By hydeparkish on Sat, 11/30/2024 - 12:50pm.

I used one realtor to find a tenant in 2008...I ended up having to evict her after her brother was selling crack from the apartment.

I no longer use realtors and have great tenants!

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By SwirlyGrrl on Sat, 11/30/2024 - 1:36pm.

If you want to hire a realtor to help you find a place, this won't stop you.

But the current system is a total scam where the landlord hires the realtor to find and screen tenants, but the tenant pays for this service.

This is also a barrier to being able to afford an apartment, because you have to be ready to dump thousands of dollars down the drain for a service you don't get. It also makes it easier for landlords to push out tenants because the algorithm says they could double the rent, but then they incur no financial penalty for forcing people out.

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